


You can't plan life

by xJordanKayX



Category: Major Crimes (TV)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2018-10-14 01:39:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10526202
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xJordanKayX/pseuds/xJordanKayX
Summary: High School A/U... In her last year of High School, Sharon finds the life and future she had all planned out is about to change. Glad she has her two best friends to help her through it... (I suck at summaries, so please read for yourself)... please note, title may change as I go along





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter I

She's been crying in the bathroom for the last thirty minutes. Her parents are both working, will be for another few hours still, and she's glad for that. She should be in school herself right now, but her teacher had sent her to the nurse’s office, who in turn had sent her home, two hours ago. 

Sharon had been feeling strange the last few weeks, but she chalked it up to stress, being in her senior year of high school and having already applied to several universities. She's been a straight-A student all her life, her parents pushing her into law school, and she would have objected if she really didn't love the idea of becoming a top lawyer and, maybe one day, follow in her father's footsteps and becoming a highly recommended judge. She'd always dreamed of her own law firm, partnering with her now ex-boyfriend. This leaves her with just enough free time to enjoy the occasional outing with her best friend and the boy she thought she'd be with forever.  
And it certainly doesn't leave her enough time to be sick, which is why she ignored it and pulled through regular school hours, after school activities and late night study sessions, until she almost had thrown up in English class today. That's when she admitted, that she might actually need a break. 

The school nurse had taken one glance at her, determined that she looked like she was coming down with something, and then proceeded to supply her with some tissues and a slip permitting her to go home and rest. When she'd left the office, Sharon almost fainted. When she visibly gagged at the smell of the tea the nurse provided her with, the woman raised some questions Sharon hadn't even thought about until then. Another half hour later they parted ways with the nurse telling her she's not allowed to hand out pregnancy tests but she'd highly recommend she'd buy one. Sharon exited the school looking worse than she had just an hour ago. 

She sat in her car for another fifteen minutes, sobbing. She didn't even know yet, if she was indeed pregnant, but the possibility alone was enough to make her cry. And then, suddenly, her head hit the steering wheel and uncontrolled laughter spilled out of her mouth. The whole situation was ridiculous. Five weeks ago, had this question been brought up, she'd have laughed out loud, because to get pregnant, you need to have sex – and between her catholic upbringing and her little free time sex was one of the last things on her mind. Then this one night happened, where she said screw it because she has been going out with Jackson Raydor for four years, she was desperately in love with him and they had already made plans for the future – marriage, jobs, kids, a house and the dog. 

Their relationship had been perfect from the start. He had transferred to their school four and a half years ago and they'd hit it off in one of their first English classes together. She hasn't had that many friends in school back then, Andrea, her best friend being a year younger than her and therefore not attending classes with her, and so she had been pleasantly surprised, when the cute new guy chatted her up. They'd gotten to know each other, hanging out in a group of four in the beginning – Andrea and Andrew Flynn, a guy Sharon had been going to school with for years but never talked to, Jack had become friends with pretty quickly, being included, too. After Jack, who was a great people social person, gathered more friends, their group expanded by quite a few people. Sharon hadn't really hated it, but she couldn't deny that she had been a little disappointed that he seemed to only see her as a friend. Flynn had flirted with her some, never really seriously though, but she hadn't been interested in him like she'd been in Jack. 

The day Jack had finally asked her out on an official date she had been over the moon, spending the majority of her Friday evening in her room talking to Andrea on the phone, and come ten in the morning on Saturday, the two girls went over every item of clothing in Sharon's closet to find the perfect outfit for her date that night. Their date had gone so much better than she had even expected and by the end of the night, she had a second official date the following Saturday.  
While he had wanted to be a gentleman, she had kissed him on the second date. They hadn't even made it to the movies, when she'd stopped him with their entwined hands and leaned up to connect their lips. He'd been her first kiss, even her first boyfriend, and though she always wanted to do things slow with her first boyfriend, she felt like their second official date wasn't their second date at all. With them spending all their time together anyway, this could easily count as date number ten anyway. 

She had been attracted to him right from the moment she saw him, and at the time they started dating, she thought it couldn't get any better than this – her first crush turned into her first boyfriend turned into her first kiss. With her fourteen years of age, she was naive enough to imagine a life with him, but not stupid enough, to actually believe it would happen. Even after he'd told her he loved her first and him being completely accepting of the fact, that she wanted to wait until marriage before they slept together, and though she'd been crazy in love with him, she'd been waiting for the other shoe to drop in the far back of her mind. It wasn't until their three year anniversary that he not quite proposed to her but promised he would marry her some day if she let him, that she finally started to believe they would be together in their sixties, watching the grand kids chase the dog through the backyard. 

On their four year anniversary five weeks ago, she'd thrown caution to the wind and told him, that she didn't want to wait anymore. He'd been good about it, considerate, asking her more than once, if she was sure, because he wanted her, but he was okay with waiting because he loved her and he didn't want to push her. But she'd assured him, because at this point, she still believed he actually did love her. They had been together for four years, so she knew, that there had been a time where he really did, but the day she stumbled upon him sucking face with the bitchy blonde from their history class, she also realized, that the last time he'd told her that, it probably was a lie. She'd dumped him on the spot, too angry to talk about things – not that there actually had been something to talk about, she'd caught him red handed  - and she hasn't really talked to him since. And if that hadn't been bad enough already, he hadn't even put up a fight about the break up, and when, a few days later she confronted him about the rumors she heard that the busty blonde wasn't the only one he cheated on her with he had denied all of it – even the one she caught him making out with. It had been Andy who, after Jack had started bragging, finally confirmed that all those rumors were true. Andrea had volunteered to pick up her things at his house and dropped off his in turn; in school she simply tried to ignore him. 

So, it had happened exactly once, and of course they used protection, she wasn't stupid, but as she had been reminded in the last hour, it's not science and can fail, once in a freaking while. 

It took her another fifteen minutes of almost hysterical laughing about her situation, before she put her car in drive and left the school parking lot. On her way home, she stopped by a pharmacy where she knew nobody knew her and bought a pregnancy test. The more time she had to think about it, the more she was sure it was wasted money, because she knew the result was going to be positive, but she needed to see it. 

Once home, she locked herself in the upstairs bathroom, took another five minutes to decide to take the test, and then paced the floor until she could get the result. It's what she had expected, two thin lines staring back at her, and that's when she had started crying again.  

When the tears finally start to cease, she pushes herself off the floor. She takes the little plastic stick and drops it into the garbage, stashing it at the bottom under a lot of toilet paper, then she checks her appearance in the mirror. She looks terrible, but a look at her watch tells her, it's late enough to call Andrea over (who can see her like that), but early enough that her parents won't be home for a while yet (who under no circumstances can see her like that).  
Wiping her face with a wet towel to appear at least a little bit alive, Sharon leaves the bathroom in search for the backpack she'd lost somewhere in the hall earlier. Retrieving her phone, she opens her speed dial memory and selects her best friend's number. Andrea picks up during the first ring. 

“Where the hell have you been?” 

“Well, hello to you, too” Sharon jokes,does a pretty good job at hiding she had been crying. At least she hopes she does. She can hear the worry in her friend's voice. 

“Don't give me that” Andrea fires back, angrily. “I've called ten times in the last two hours. Andy said you left early because you weren't feeling well, and normally you let me know when you won't make it to the coffee shop after school. I was worried” Sharon let's her ramble on for a moment more, before she interrupts. 

“I asked Andy to tell you I won't make it, I wasn't really up for conversation earlier, I'm sorry. But I'm calling now, to tell you to get over here if you want to know what's going on. I desperately need someone to talk to” They are still friends with Andy, after he decided their friendship was more important to him than the friendship of a pathetic liar and cheater. 

“That sounds serious” Andrea half jokes. 

“It is” Sharon's not joking at all. 

“I'll be there in fifteen” With that, she hangs up, and Sharon's glad, because she feels another wave of tears coming, and she doesn't want to cry over the phone. It's bad enough she'll be doing that in person again soon. 

Thirteen minutes later she opens the door for Andrea, who immediately pulls her into a hug after noticing the red puffy eyes and the tear streaked face. Andrea pushes the door closed with her foot and steers her friend, still wrapped up in each other's arms, towards the couch. When the blonde tries to pull away and push Sharon to sit down, she shakes her head. 

“Not here” She takes her friend's hand and pulls her up the stairs into her room. Sharon's too afraid her parents could get home early and this is a conversation she doesn't want them to overhear. She knows, she has to tell them soon anyway, but today is not that day. Andrea just stares at her friend's red locks but follows her willingly. This has to be more serious than she'd anticipated. 

Once in her room, Sharon collapses face down onto her bed, hiding her face in the pillows and wordlessly gestured in the direction of her nightstand. She had dug the positive pregnancy test back out of the trash, and that's what Andrea's staring at in disbelief when Sharon lifts her head from the mattress. 

“Honey...” She doesn't really know what to say in that moment. She wants to ask if that is what she thinks it is, but that's stupid, because of course it is what she thinks it is. She wants to ask if this is real or a joke, but that's stupid, too, because of course it's real, Sharon wouldn't joke about that. She wants to say she's sorry, but that's even more stupid, because it's not her fault. So she takes a moment to gather her thoughts and thinks about what to say, but Sharon beats her to it.

“Yea...” She answers Andrea's two unspoken questions. “And I have no idea how to deal with it” She breaks down crying again. 

It's the truth. Sharon O'Dwyer had ever been the girl that kept a clear head, always knew what to do in every situation. Until now – and that scares her shitless. She knows, had known from the moment the school nurse put the thought into her head, that she would be having the baby, that abortion was something, she would never consider. But that leaves her with so many other unanswered questions and so many things to do and take care of she doesn't even want to think about right now. She knows, she has to step up and be the responsible adult her parents raised her to be, but for the moment all she wants to do is be the irresponsible child that got knocked up by her cheating boyfriend. 

“Shhh...” Andrea flops onto the bed next to her, her arms coming to wrap around Sharon's small frame immediately, and she pushes dark curls away so she can look at her friend. “I won't tell you that everything will be alright, because I know what you're afraid of, and I can't promise your parents won't flip or that Jack will take responsibility. But what I can promise you, is that no matter what happens – what you decide to do – you will always have me. I won't let you do this alone.” 

“Thank you” the brunet mumbles into her pillows. That's why Sharon loves Andrea; the blonde doesn't sugar coat anything, and deep down, Sharon thinks that this is exactly what she needed right now. “What am I going to tell my parents” Sharon goes on, flipping onto her back. “They raised me to wait until marriage and what do I do?! I not only sleep with the cheater, I also get pregnant.”

The blonde tangles their hands on Sharon's stomach. “We'll figure it out, don't worry.”

“They'll kill me” Sharon whines. She's definitely not back into the responsible adult stage. 

“They won't. They might disown you though” Andrea tries to lighten the mood, but the glare she receives tells her, that Sharon is definitely not in the 'joking about it' stage either. “All jokes aside, you know I'm here for you, and whatever comes, we will figure it out. We always do”

“Thank you” it's all she has to say, again. She knows it's probably not nearly enough, but it had to do for the moment, until she finds the better words. 

They lay there for a long while, both processing, what the day had brought them so far. Andrea's playing with their joined hands every once in awhile, while Sharon is wiping at the occasional tear, both of them brooding in silence – until Andrea finally breaks it.

“You wanna talk about Jack?” 

“No” It's the first thing, Sharon has been completely sure of today. 

Andrea stays with her for another two hours, and eventually, Sharon starts talking about Jack and the baby and what she is going to do about all of it - at least the parts she has already figured out, or isn’t too scared to approach.

“I’m going to tell him” Sharon eventually says, breaking the silence that had once again crept over them. She turns onto her side again, lets their entangled fingers rest onto her hip because she isn’t  brave enough to lose contact with her best friend all together. She needs it for that conversation. With a heavy sigh, she continues. “He’s an asshole, he won’t take responsibility. He will either ignore me forever and deny it’s his or he will try to talk me into getting rid of it. But I’m going to tell him.”

“So I’m guessing you will not be getting rid of it?” Andrea hadn’t thought so. She had known Sharon for almost all her life, she knows, that even if for no other reason than that, her friend had been raised way too catholic to abort a child – no matter the circumstances in which she had come to get pregnant. Still, after sitting here and consoling her over a pregnancy that clearly shows that she hadn't taken everything her parents had taught her to heart, Andrea thinks the question is justified.

Another long exhale, but this time she sounds more confident in what she is saying. “No, I couldn't do that.” A tear escapes her eye again, but it is just this one and she is glad for that – she doesn’t  need another breakdown right now. “I still have no idea what I'm going to do, when they get here, though – but I guess I have some more time to figure that out”

“I hate to bring this up honey, but when are you going to tell your parents?” The question had been on Sharon's mind since she had left the nurse|s office – and she still has no answer to it. She had, for the briefest of moments, thought about just running away so she would not have to face them at all, but that's not her. Granted, ending up pregnant and alone with eighteen isn't either, but still.

“Never?” She tries a small smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes. At the look Andrea gives her, she relents however. “Okay, I know never isn't an option. I will tell them soon, just not today, I need to process this for myself first.” What she really means, is that she's afraid. Afraid of this whole situation, afraid of Jack's and her parent's reaction and afraid, what other people will think of her now. She had always been the good girl, had never done anything wrong – at least nothing that would shine a bad light on their family – so she has no idea what the hell she is supposed to do now.”Could we not tell anyone else though? Especially not Andy?!”

“Sharon...” It's her decision, when and who to tell about her pregnancy, Andrea knows that, but Andy still is their friend and after everything he had done for them – mainly defend Sharon's honor in front of Jack and cut ties with the cheater after being attached at the hip for years – Andrea feels like he deserves to know.

“I'm not not telling him, Andrea” They know each other long enough to know what the other is trying to say, without actually expressing it. “I just want my parents to know first, and maybe even Jack – though the jury's still out on that one.” She frowns at the mention of  his name. She would have loved to never have to use it again. “And I definitely don't want to just call him up and spring this on him. I need time to think about how to approach this with him ,too.”

“You know, he will be there for you, too, right?” First, Andrea had liked to joke that Andy had a crush on her, with all the friendly teasing and flirting. Then Sharon had started dating Jack and though they had continued with their light banter, he had never made any move on her. Andrea had taken this as a sign, that she had been mistaken, or that he was at least a loyal enough friend to both of them, to not get into their perfect relationship. He had turned out to be a pretty perfect best friend still.

“I do”  

Andrea then frees her fingers out of Sharon's death grip and pulls the distraught girl back into a hug, where she cries for another hour until she hears her parent's car park in the driveway up front.

Andrea stays for dinner, doesn’t even have the option of saying no - Sharon’s mother had seen the other girl’s shoes by the front door and promptly set another plate out on the table. She doesn’t tell her parents that she had gotten home sick from school because when they arrive home from work, she would have been out of school anyway. She pulls herself together, makes herself look presentable and joins them for dinner – and when the smell of the dish soap her mother uses to hand-wash the utensils that won't fit into the dishwasher makes her nauseous enough to throw up, the girls excuse herself to study, the lie rolling off her tongue like she had practiced it more than once before.

The next day, Sharon goes back to school, like nothing happened. It’s way too early to tell anyone about the pregnancy, and while she can still hide it, she plans on doing exactly that. She meets up with Andrea and Andy at her locker twenty minutes before school starts, like every day - and Andrea does her best not to let through that she knows something she isn’t allowed to share. When they part to start their first lesson of the day - Andrea heading to biology, Andy and Sharon heading to french -  their usual plan to study and catch up after school at the favorite coffee shop back in place. 

Back home, after a long day at school, where she had been hiding from Jack more than any other day, she has a brief internal discussion about telling her parents about the baby now, but she chickens out the moment she enters the kitchen to help her mother prepare dinner. Two hours later, Andy picks her up for a movie, after which the two meet up with Andrea again for some ice cream, before the girls have their weekly sleepover. This time, they’ll stay at Sharon’s, which gives her the opportunity to come clean to her parents, and not be alone when doing it. 

When, on Saturday morning, Sharon walks into their kitchen, where her parents are just finishing breakfast, Andrea's hand clasped tightly in her's, looking extremely nervous, they know immediately that something is wrong.

“Mom, Dad, can we talk for a moment?” She leans against the kitchen counter, staring intently at the hole in her sock, where a flash of red nail polish is shining through. There had been a moment, where she had thought about just blurting it out, and hoping not to be killed on the spot. She'd decided against it.

“Sure” Her mother answers, sharing a worried glance with her husband. “What's wrong?”

“It's not wrong, technically” Sharon stalls, because for all her bravado when she took Andrea's hand and all but pulled her into the kitchen to finally get this over with, she's scared shitless to actually say the words out loud right now.

A squeeze to their joined hands makes her look up from the floor. “Why don't you just tell them, honey” It’s not a question, and it doesn’t leave any room for negotiation.  
Andrea had been like the O'Dwyer's second daughter, from the moment she had been born  - they had known her parents since college  - and so no one objects to her being part of this seemingly serious family discussion.

“I'm pregnant” She rips it off like a band-aid, hoping the worst had been over with. She goes back to study her toenail, so she only hears her mother inhale deeply, before letting it out in a slow exhale.

“No, you're not” To her surprise, though, it’s her father who finds his voice first. “We raised you better than this”

Her head snaps up at this and she fixes her father with a hard stare and speaks out through gritted teeth “What do you mean, I'm not?”   

“I simply refuse to believe that. I knew we should have forbidden you to go out with that Raydor boy” Her parents have never been incredibly fond of Jack. They hadn't exactly hated him, and after four years together, he was at their house for dinner more often than he had been at his own, but there always had been this underlying animosity. Her mother had, more than once tried to tell her that she didn't think Jack was good enough for her  - and in the end, when Sharon had cried her eyes out on her mother's shoulder the day she'd caught him cheating, her mother had been kind enough not to point that out to her.

“It is Jack's, is it?” Sharon's hand around Andrea's tightens in anger at her mother's question.

“Of course it's Jack's! Who do you think I am?”

“I don't know” Her father exclaims. “You certainly aren't the girl we thought you were!” When she hadn't been leaning against the counter, Sharon is sure she would have lost her footing. She knows, she had screwed up, but this is a bit hard.

“That's enough!” For a moment, Sharon breathes a sigh of relief, her hand loosening around Andrea's. And then her mother continues. “We can still fix this” She immediately knows, what her mother wants to get at, and by the arm that snug around her waist, Andrea does, too.

“You're right” Her father gets up from the table at that, pacing the kitchen floor for a whole minute. Then he fixes his daughter with a look that leaves no room for interpretation. “On Monday, we will make you an appointment at a clinic a few towns over and we will never talk about this again.” As an afterthought, he adds “Who else knows about this already?”

This time, despite the solid presence behind her, Sharon sags a little, if not for her best friend at her side, she might had even hit the floor. “No” It's not as determined as she intends it to be, to her own ears it sounds fragile and so quiet that she is surprised somebody actually heard her. 

“Excuse me?!” Her mother gets in, before she is interrupted by her husband yet again. She buries her face in her hands, inhales deeply for a long minute to push back the tears and anger she's feeling and the she hefts her eyes back onto her husband, listening intently on how he is going to deal with this situation. 

“Do you know what this does to my reputation as a judge? To your mother's reputation?” He sits himself down again, takes his wife's hand in his own. Sharon sees her mother wipe at a few tears, but she can’t bring herself to care.

“This is all you care about? Your reputation?! I can't believe this” Sharon brushes away tears of her own now. Andrea tightens her hold around her, giving her all the support she can give in this moment. “I know, this is not what you wanted from me, hell, it's not what I wanted for myself, but this will not be fixed with an abortion. You always taught me that and now, that it's not fitting in with your perfect life, suddenly it's okay?!” She wants to stop right there, but a sudden burst of courage has her mouth open again before she can stop herself. “I will have this baby and there's nothing you can do about it. And quite honestly, I don't care.”

With that, she stalks out of the kitchen on shaky legs, pulling Andrea along with her. She only lets go of her friend's hand when they reach her bedroom. There she pulls her suitcase out of her closet, stuffs it with enough clothes to not have go home until she is able to face her mom and dad again. On the way out the door, she grabs her backpack and her toiletries out of the bathroom.

“If you can't find it in you to support me here, then I don't want to see you again.” Sharon enters the kitchen again, expects to cry saying those words, but she's so pissed off at that moment, that tears are the last thing showing on her face. “I'll be staying with Andrea for a while” She then proclaims. She doesn’t even wait for a response.

“You support this Andrea?” Is the last thing she hears, before leaving the house and waiting for her best friend in her car. But by the way Andrea doesn't even need a full minute before she follows Sharon out the door, the answer is pretty obvious. 

She had known, telling her parents wouldn't be easy. She had anticipated some harsh words, yelling and disappointment, but what she had not been prepared for, was her parents flat out refusing to support her decision to have the baby. 

Once at Andrea's, they don’t make it very far into the house, before Sharon breaks down, and now, she’s curled up on Andrea’s couch, pillow squashed to her chest, while her head, resting on the armrest, is turned towards the cheesy romance movie playing on TV. Andrea’s hand is absently stroking through red hair, down her back and back up again, the movie forgotten as her complete and utter attention is on her upset best friend. At least she had stopped crying for the moment. A tub of ice cream is melting on the coffee table and her suitcase is standing in the corner. 

The blonde tried to talk her friend out off the sappy rom-com, because she still believes, that it’s the last thing she needs right now, but Sharon wouldn’t have it. She had always been able to best shut her brain up, and the world out, by predicting the outcome of every such movie after first being introduced to the two main protagonists. This is followed by complaining that she’s been right when one of the scenes she’s described come on screen. It’s brain numbing, and she loves it.  
Still, Andrea doesn’t think two people falling in love and ending up the perfect couple by the end of the movie is the best cure for a girl whose life just fell apart under her feet.

But Sharon needs something brain numbing right now because she doesn't want to start thinking about moving out of her childhood home altogether, because that ultimately meant she would not be mending fences with her parents any time soon. She remembers her mother telling her how hard it had been to find out she was pregnant with Sharon and not have her own mother there to help and guide her and, no matter what horrible things she had thrown their way during their rather heated argument, Sharon doesn't want that. No matter what she ends up doing – giving the child up for adoption or raising it herself – she wants her mother there. And if she decides on the latter, she doesn't want to one day tell her son or daughter the same story.

Sharon doesn't even realize when the cheesy romance ended and her favorite scary movie came on, but when Andrea reaches over to grab the remote and turn the TV off, the brunette stops her. The younger girl sits back, taking back up the task of stroking a comfortable hand down the length of her friend's back. She knows, she's probably not supposed to indulge this behavior, but after the day Sharon had, it's okay for her to wallow in self-pity for a while longer.

It's a pretty hot Saturday and her parents are out on their weekly date night/day. Andy had called earlier to ask if they were up for ice cream in the park and some swimming by the closed off lake, where technically nobody was allowed to swim, let alone linger around. Andrea had come up with a pretty good, believable lie, telling him flat out that they were spending their weekend out of town at her aunt’s house, looking after some nieces and nephews she doesn't have. The girls just have to hope now, that Andy won't run into any of their parents, or they would have a hell of a lot of explaining to do. And honestly, the last thing Sharon needs right now, is more drama to end her already fucked up day.

When the second movie ends, and Sharon finally realizes, that the sun is gradually setting, she turns onto her back on the couch, staring up at Andrea. She is about to ask, again, if it's really okay for her to stay, but her friend's look shuts her up. She knows she doesn't ever have to ask.

The girls meet Andrea's parents at the front door on their way to bed and Sharon again feels like she should say something, ask for permission to stay, but it's them, who stop her from voicing her thoughts, too.

They may have been best friends with Sharon's parents since they started college, but that doesn't mean they have to like everything they did and said. And they had made it abundantly clear, that they did not condone their behavior towards Sharon. This night, Sharon goes to bed with the promise to be able to stay as long as she wants to.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter II

Andy is already waiting at Sharon’s locker when the two girls arrive hand in hand on monday morning. He’s chatting with some boy he knows from his history class, sending angry glances in the general direction Jack and his gang of moron’s is hanging out. They know it’s childish, but somehow it makes them feel a little better at times. 

Andy’s normally the first one there, living closest to school, whereas Sharon generally showed up last. She’s the only one of them coming to school with a car, giving her only a five minute drive, so she takes a few more minutes in the morning to get out off bed and get ready. This morning Andy is surprised to find them coming towards him together, but he knows, they had spent the weekend together. He greets them both with a hug and a peck on the cheek (it had started as a joke years ago that had turned into tradition), after biding his friend goodbye. It's not like they are an exclusive three-people group when together, but one or two awkward encounters before, they had realized that apart from a polite hello all five of them don't really have anything to talk about. Andy's not friends with them per se, either, but the occasional talk about a flunked test or missed homework, is often thrown in when they pass each other in the hallway. 

“Good morning, pretty Ladies” He bows his head a little, putting on his trademark smile. He never had anything against Sharon; they've been attending the same classes since he can remember, but he just never was the guy that had to necessarily go out and make new friends, especially with pretty girls. It either happened or it didn't. Later, after he started hanging out with Jack and had a bunch of friends, the only girls he was interested in, where the ones he had a crush on and who were willing to be his girlfriend – except from Sharon and Andrea. Though if he is brutally honest with himself, he may or may not have actually developed something for his former best friend's girlfriend; he's just not sure what exactly to call it yet. “How was your weekend?” He steps aside, leaning one shoulder against the locker next to Sharon’s to make room for her, his other arm slung over Andrea’s shoulder casually, jokingly pulling on some blonde strands. Sharon smiles at her best friend swatting away Andy’s fingers over and over again. If she didn't know better, they looked and behaved like an old married couple sometimes. 

“Exhausting” Andrea lies smoothly, putting on a sigh for good measure. She’s grabbed Andy’s hand so he would stop playing with her hair. “Two young boys can be a handful” They decided to say as little as possible about their weekend supposedly sitting Andrea’s nephews, therefore it’s easier to stick to the truth. Andy does know most of their family members, so she needs to be careful who's name she drops into the conversation, so she opts for not saying who's kids they have been looking after. For effect, Sharon nods her head a few times in the positive and pulls her face into a grimace for a split second, just long enough for him to notice, as if she is remembering back to the weekend they had. She's not even faking, and Andrea notices, so she pulls Andy's attention back onto her, teasing him a little about his own family while they wait for Sharon to finish up. 

When all her things are put away in her locker, Sharon nudges Andy in the shoulder and pries his arm away from the wall. Pulling it around her own shoulder and linking their fingers like Andrea did on his other side, they start to make their way to their first classes (On monday’s they all three have to be in the science wing). They dodge a group of freshmen girls that send heated looks at them for blocking most of the way and Sharon just smiles sweetly back at them which aggravates them to no end. She's sure she hears some expletives being muttered she sure as hell did not know when she was starting high school. “When I was their age, I didn't even dare look at the older kids, let alone like that.” She's smiling though, doesn't really mind them at all. Why should she, when she never was one to cause actual trouble and by this time next year, she will be out of here. Probably not college, she thinks, which dampens her mood significantly, but she promised herself she will not act weird in front of Andy. 

Another promise she made herself was that she will also not let this pregnancy ruin the future she had planned out for herself. She still doesn't know, if she will keep the child after it is born (in the last 36 hours she'd changed her mind on that question about every fifteen minutes), but she knows, that if she does, with a newborn she is not going to attend college right after she's done with High School, but she is determined to work her way through all of it (on her own if necessary). She's been promised financial and emotional help from Andrea's parents, and even though she doesn't like, she'd be gladly accepting it until she can pay them back for everything they'd done for her. And she will attend law school somewhere down the line, becoming everything her parents think she'd just destroyed for herself.

And, at least for the next few days, she will try not to overthink this whole situation too much. Pregnancy tests can be false, too. Yes, she has already told her parents because technically, with the way she had ben feeling, there is no way that test showed a false positive, but the thought alone makes her feel a little less afraid at the moment. The doctor's appointment she hasn't set up yet is the moment she starts freaking out again. 

“Tell me about it” Andrea and Andy say almost at them same time, making them laugh, which in turn they are pretty positive annoys another big part of the students occupying the hall. They don't really care here either. 

“So, what did you get up to apart from trespassing?” They've reached the staircase that technically isn't wide enough to hold the three of them next to each other and simultaneously let other people pass in the other direction, but they've done this long enough that Andy's arms automatically move backwards so only their joined hands lie on the girls shoulders and Sharon and Andrea move closer together in front of him. He leans his head forward between them, chin resting on their shoulders. 

“Oh you know” He shrugs and moves back between the two girls when they reach the landing. “Kidnapping, drug dealing. A typical sunday evening.” There's no question that he spent the rest of his weekend studying with Mike and playing some hobby basketball with Julio. That's mostly what he had been doing the last four weeks since he stopped hanging out with Jack constantly – either he was with the girls or Mike and Julio. He'd probably been throwing in soccer practice, too. 

“Shame we couldn't be there” Sharon smiles, adjusting their joined hands around her shoulder with her head leaning on his. Her voice dripping with sarcasm, but they know it's all in good fun. “Who won?” When Andrea snorts on his other side the girls both receive a mock glare. 

It's no secret that Andy is an excellent athlete when it comes to soccer and track (he's good enough to attend college on a scholarship on either one), and he's not bad at basketball either, but he's also no competition for Julio Sanchez. He's the guy who does almost every sport the school has to offer since kindergarten and, much to Andy's annoyance, shines in everything he tries. They have been friends for quite some time, something that didn't change with Jack's influence on him, and he hadn't managed to beat Julio in any sport he had challenged him in yet – though he did come pretty close in one of their soccer tournaments once. 

The girls have been supporting the boys on their various competitions for years, since Jack used to be on the soccer team, too up until last season, but stuck to debating and film club (Sharon is a sucker for all things horror film and had infected Andrea pretty early in their friendship). 

“I'll have you know, that I didn't loose that high this time” Andy proudly states, not really making his situation better but rather have the girls break out in full on laughter. They reach the corner where they will have to part ways for the day in a few minutes and when they are still laughing at him, he decides to change the subject abruptly. 

“So when are we gonna reach the part where you ladies tell me what you actually did over the weekend?” That shuts them up effectively. They never wanted to lie to Andy, but Sharon needs a little more time to deal with things on her own before telling anyone else. They had kind of hoped he wouldn't find out, but by the look on his face they knew he wasn't just saying random stuff to change the subject. He actually knows. 

“Where did you see them?” Andrea doesn't even try to pretend she doesn't know what he's talking about. It couldn't have been anyone else than her parents. Sharon's definitely hadn't gone around and proclaiming her daughter's whereabouts, too afraid she could be telling Andy about the pregnancy. 

“Outside the cinema” When he's not detouring on his way to the park to pick up the girls at one of their homes, the most direct path to their favorite ice-cream stand is a shortcut that ends in the local cinema's back alley, just down the street from his destination. He knows that, at least two saturdays a month Andrea's parents visit the movie theater, but since he normally pick the girls up he hasn't crossed paths with them outside yet. So, when he recognized them two days ago, he was of course polite enough to talk to them. “I'm still waiting” He adds, smirking, when he hasn't gotten an answer for a whole minute. He's not really pissed that they lied to him. 

Sharon leans against the wall next to him, shoulders touching, debating for a moment just telling him. He will find out anyway, even if she'd been considering not telling him at all. But then she sees Jack disappearing into their classroom at the end of the hall and she can't do it. Not yet. Jack maybe an ass in her opinion, but he is still this child's father, and even though she probably doesn't owe him anything, she can't tell his former best friend before him. She dreads that conversation, but still. Instead she takes Andy's hand in her own to pull his full attention onto her, shares a quick look with Andrea and then leans her head back against the wall with a long inhale. He is watching her profile expectantly. “If I promise I will tell you real soon, will you not push for more information right now?” 

His mouth opens as if to say something before closing without uttering a word. He had anticipated many things, most of which were teases and jokes, but he hadn't expected that. The way she phrased it, it sounds pretty serious he thinks. And there's no denying, that he wants to know what's going on, preferably yesterday, but he doesn't ask. He knows them, trusts them blindly – with his whole life probably – so he takes another deep breath to swallow the question on his tongue, nods once in the affirmative. “Yea, I can do that” Sharon sees the struggle to keep his curiosity in check and she appreciates that a great deal. 

She gives their joined hands a squeeze and leans up to press a lingering kiss against his cheek. “Thank you” She is going to talk to Jack as soon as she has a doctor confirm what she already knows, and then she is going to tell her other best friend. She doesn't really know how yet however. 

“Next time, maybe just don't lie to me?” He's still not really mad about it, but if they had told him they want to hang out just the two of them, he would have understood. He is their friend and they spend the majority of their little free time together, but that doesn't mean they have to be with each other constantly. He has Mike and Julio he spends time with when the girls are busy and the girls have themselves – and that had never been a problem. He hopes it won't start becoming one now. By their facial expressions he can see that they are genuinely apologetic though. 

“Sorry” They mumble almost at the same time, sheepishly. They should have know this lie was stupid. “You can have our cakes at lunch” Andrea adds with a smile.

“Apology accepted” Andy laughs. He can't think of a single day when either Sharon nor Andrea had eaten their school lunch dessert. 

“See you then” The blonde detangles herself from the hold Andy has on her, hugs both of them briefly. 

“Have fun” Sharon tugs at their still joined hands, pulling Andy away from the wall he is way too comfortable leaning against. He follows reluctantly. Andrea's answer is a sarcastic laugh and then they part ways to their respective classes. 

Andy's arm moves back around Sharon's shoulder without letting go of her fingers and when they enter the classroom like that, Jack heated gaze lands upon them. They had always been close, ever since the day Jack had made friends with Andy and brought him into their little group. He knows, that they are not together – at least not yet - but they can't do what they are doing in a high school full of gossiping teenagers. How would he look when people started spreading the rumors that his girlfriend left him for his best friend?! Andy pulls her a little tighter into his embrace, which she willingly accepts, and stares back at Jack with a barely there smirk on his face. Again, it's incredibly childish and they are supposed to be almost adults, but he likes to rub the fact that Jack had screwed up badly and Andy hadn't in the other boy's face. Before their staring contest could go any further though, the door opened and closed behind their teacher, effectively ending all conversation in the room. 

Three hours later, in a class both of them are completely uninterested in, Sharon is drawing random patterns onto her binder while she is pretty sure she can see Andy write down soccer strategies beside her, both knowing Andrea is not faring any better in her class. She lets out an almost audible sigh of relieve when the bell finally releases them to lunch and they are one of the first ones out the door. This time they only meet Andrea in front of the cafeteria and, after getting their lunch and finding some place to sit, the girls wordlessly hand over their pieces of chocolate-ish cake. 

“That would mean so much more, if I hadn't been eating your desserts fro the last four years anyway” He jokes, pulling his tray out of Sharon's reach when she pretends to take her piece back. “I didn't say I didn't want it” That smirk again. 

Before long they move on to complain about the lessons they had already attended today and complain about the lessons they will still have to attend to. Lunch goes by way too fast after that and when they head off in different directions again, Sharon reminds Andrea again, that they need to wait for her at the entrance after school. She needs to make a detour through the nurse's office, because she forgot something vital there on thursday. Andrea knows that story is made up but for Andy's benefit she plays along. 

What Sharon really hopes to find when she enterst he nurse's office after school is Jen. Her boyfriend used to be friends with Jack two years ago and so she and Sharon had become good friends, too. Jen and Tyler graduated last year and since he's pretty busy with college the boys have lost touch completely relatively soon after that. Jen attends medical school and in her free time volunteers at her old high school as a nurse and since Jack won't find out about her condition from Tyler, Sharon decided Jen is her best shot at getting some advice on how to find the right doctor and what to expect. She knows the other girl is generally volunteering mondays and she's in luck when she spots Jen putting away the last of her stuff. 

“You're still not in contact with Jack anymore, right?” She only realizes she blurted out the question without so much as a hello, after she already said it. “Sorry. Hi Jen” She then adds, putting on her best smile that almost always works in her favor. 

“Sharon, hey. What are you doing here?” It's rare seeing Sharon anywhere near here, because she was just never sick. “No, after what he did to you, I threatened Tyler I'd leave him if he ever spoke to him again” It's a joke, but the truth behind it registers in Sharon and her features relax visibly. 

“I need you advice” She clasps and unclasps her hands in front of her body nervously until Jen walks over, takes them in her own and pushes her down into a chair. The intense questioning gaze directed at her prompts her to go on. “I'm pregnant” It's nothing more than a whisper, an exhale but it's enough.

“Are you sure? Have you seen a doctor yet?” Her first instinct had been to blurt out 'Oh my god' but that wouldn't help. So she tries being professional. If, much later, there will be a little human being to spoil rotten, she can gush over that fact then. 

“No, that's where I need your help” She's not getting any further when she is interrupted by the other girl.

“My mom's got a last minute cancellation on wednesday at 5.” Qualifications are everything for a spot in medical school, and so, the school isn't the only place Jen's volunteering in her free time. Her mother's doctor's office being another one. Still, Sharon didn't come here because she was looking for an easy way to get a doctor's appointment. She was hoping for a recommendation or an advice on what to look for and maybe ask a question or two about what this first visit will be like. 

“No, Jen, that's not...” 

“I know, but you will still be taking it” 

Really, she should have known that. There is no way she will be getting recommended a different ob/gyn when she's asking the daughter of one. “Thank you” She's silent for a minute and studies her hands in her lap, gathering her thoughts. She knows what she wants to ask, but she doesn't have the word to form the question, yet. A long exhale, she lifts her eyes back up. “This probably sounds silly, but I'm scared.” Another pause, that doesn't last as long as she had intended it to, when she sees Jen start to say something. She isn't finished yet. “Not about the pregnancy...well, yes, that, too... but I mean the appointment”

“That's not silly, honey” A squeeze to Sharon's hands encourages her to look right at Jen. “You don't know what to expect, of course that's scary. But you have nothing to worry about. You will mainly just answer questions about your health, chronical disease in your family and such, then there'll probably be some tests but nothing you have to be scared of. And, of course, you get the chance to ask your questions and get your concerns out off the way”

“Do my parents have to be there?” She's afraid the answer will be yes. There's no way her parents will do this. She's relieved when the answer she receives is a shake of the head and a clear “No”.

There are a lot of other things she would like to ask or talk about, but a glance at her watch shows her that she has to hurry – for someone who just wants to pick up something she'd lost she has spent quite a long time in the office already. Her friends are still waiting for her and there is only so much Andrea can do before Andy's curiosity gets the better of him and he comes looking for her. She's saved from making a decision however, when Jen looks at her apologetic and tells her she needs to hurry out, but that Sharon's always welcome to call or drop by when she has questions or problems. She thanks her again, hugging the other girl and then she's off in search for her friends. 

She finds them enjoying the sun on the front steps, sitting side by side, the blonde's head once again resting on Andy's shoulder. She steps up to them silently, blocking the sun form reaching them. 

“So that's what you get up to when I'm not around” Indicating their intimate posture accusingly. She's hardly able to contain her smile. 

“Oh please” Andrea cracks one eye open, squints up at her friend. “As if you're not all over him when I'm not here” The smile still threatens to come forth she notices. “Come to think of it, aren't we doing this when the other one's around, too?” It's so innocent that this time Sharon can't hold in the smile anymore. 

“Not my fault I'm irresistible” That earns him two laughs and a shove on each shoulder. 

“Come on Romeo, I need my daily fix of hot chocolate”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is just one thing I would like to set straight: I am from Germany, I never attended an american high school and all knowledge I actually have about a normal day on said HS is based upon some very short and superficial internet research and the help of a friend who hasn't gone to high school for at least 40 years now. I'm trying my best to make this as realistic as possible (I hope) and constructive critisism is always welcome, and please feel free to help me out if there is something so completely wrong that it's actually bad, but otherwise, please try to bear with me on that one. On that note, if it hasn't been plainly obvious from my previous rambling, english is not my first language and I post without a Beta reader, so all mistakes are mine and mine alone.   
> Either way, enjoy


	3. chapter III

Chapter III

Wednesday comes sooner than Sharon expected. She hoped to have a little more time to be just her old self, having coffee or tea or hot chocolate with her friends three days a week after school, ignoring her ex-boyfriend a little while longer. Despite the rather crushing reality of her break-up, Sharon liked how her life had turned out and she even managed to convince herself that the break up was for the best, because she wouldn't change what she had with Andrea and Andy for the world. She had loved Jack, but even she had to admit, that she had been smiling a lot more in the last three weeks, than the six months before that. It may have been a blow that her relationship ended like it did, but looking back on it, she thinks that maybe she should have seen it coming for a while.

The trio had spent Monday afternoon at their usual spot, catching up on what happened between lunch and the end of school, doing their homework and generally talking and having a good time. Though it was technically Andy's turn to pay for their beverages, Sharon and Andrea waved him off when he went for his wallet. They even spent the extra money to get him the extra chocolate sprinkles on his cappuccino and a piece of blueberry pie to make up for lying to him about their weekend. He had more than once tried to tell them that it really is okay, that they didn't need to do all that, but they wouldn't hear of it. They'd felt bad about being dishonest ever since they told the lie, and that had been when they hadn't known Andy knew it was a lie. After, they felt even worse.   
Of course, one coffee and a slice of cake won't ever really make up for what they did, but when he slid into the booth next to Sharon and pulled Andrea onto his other side like always, they started to believe that they might actually be forgiven already. 

When their first beverages and Andy's pie had been cleared, Andrea scooted out of the booth and slid onto the seat opposite her friends to make a bit more room to start on their homework. Without a single thought or hesitation, the blonde's french assignment found it's way in front of Sharon, while the brunette slid their history questions across the table. They may not attend the same classes, but Andrea had realized pretty soon, that she sucked at french whereas Sharon was almost fluent. History class, on the other hand, had always been the one class Sharon and Andy used to plan out the rest of their week. It wasn't like they weren't able to follow the topics or couldn't remember what they had been taught if they ever payed attention, but history, especially with their teacher, was just so boring. (While they still had been going out, it had been Sharon and Jackson for a great while, until their teacher had had enough and made him change seats with Andy – not that that actually helped any). Andrea had always loved history and, as boring as she might sound to other people for admitting that, she read Sharon's history textbook every year, making it incredibly easy for her to follow the assignments her two friends didn't want to do.   
Andy, for the last five weeks, had been responsible for Sharon and his math homework. He'd copy the history papers, while she'd copy the math papers and then they would start working on whatever else was to do together. 

While Sharon and Andy had been huddled together over their English assignment, Andrea had texted Emma. The girls had known each other for a while, had never been really close but cordial enough to throw the occasional smile when they passed each other in the hallway or saw each other in class. They had, recently, been paired together for a science project and, even though Monday's are reserved for coffee with her two best friends, the girls needed to get a move on said project, so she'd asked Emma to come over after she'd finished all her other work. Sharon had given her a suggestive smirk, that hadn't really been hidden as good as she might have thought it had, when Emma showed up at their table. They had exchanged polite hellos, and when Andy and Sharon went back to whispering over their paper, Andrea had been positive what they were talking about now, was not English homework.   
It's no secret, that Andrea's gay, at least not to the people close to her and who cared. But what she would have liked to stay a secret for a while longer – preferably forever – was her crush on Emma Rios. She's not hiding anything per se, and if it had been anyone else, she might have actually said something already, but Emma had been extremely happy with her boyfriend until recently – and therefore as straight as they come. 

The four of them had spent another three hours seated in their booth, ordering a second and then a third cup of cappuccino and hot chocolate and when they'd finally left they'd hugged Andy goodbye in front of the coffee shop and headed back into the direction of their High School, Andy walking in the other direction since the cafe was just between his home and school. Sharon had offered to drive Emma home since her mother had dropped her off earlier and so, when they had reached the parking lot, the three girls had piled into Sharon's car. Now that they hadn't been preoccupied with their respective homework, Emma and Sharon had held a pleasant conversation about nothing in particular but still Andrea had been able to read between the lines – Sharon was inconspicuously interrogating and determining if she was good enough for her best friend. And while Sharon had spent the rest of the day, and a good part of the night, too, teasing Andrea about Emma, the blonde had spent almost as much time trying to convince Sharon, that the interrogation hadn't been at all necessary. In the end, Andrea had indulged her best friend just because she had been glad she'd found something else to occupy her mind with other than Jack and the baby. 

Tuesday happened to actually almost turn out like every other Tuesday they had encountered in the last weeks. They'd met before their first classes, occupied way too much space around Sharon's locker that she wondered why nobody had ever complained that they couldn't reach theirs, and generally acted like they owned the hallway on their way to their class rooms. Courses had been as boring and equally exiting as they get and come lunch they had been huddled together around a small table in the cafeteria again, talking, complaining, joking. Andy had made it his personal mission to tease Andrea about her new girlfriend, which had earned him more than one shove in the shoulder and a few adamant “She's not my girlfriend” from Andrea. The only thing Sharon had to say about all of it were more teases and a good amount of poorly disguised snickers that turned into groans when she'd received her first shoulder shove as well. Of course, it didn't help that halfway through their lunch Emma had shown up at their table and whisked Andrea away to check on something about their science project before heading to their next classes. She'd be hearing about this for a great while she is sure. 

After school, Andy has soccer practice on Tuesdays, which is pretty convenient since it overlaps with the girls' film club meeting anyway. Sharon hadn't really been in the mood for discussing her favorite movies and slam their resident movie smart-ass with her actual knowledge instead of his made up facts, but she had wanted to act as normal as possible for at least the days she hadn't had her first pre-natal appointment yet, and attending after school activities sadly is included in that. She's already dreading debating, where she actually needs to participate, as opposed to film club, where she was able to lean back and enjoy the others' conversation if she were so inclined.   
In the end she had opted to to not sulk in some corner, mainly because about fifteen minutes in they had started to pick apart American Psycho and, as one of the best movies that had ever been created, she couldn't stand it. Andrea had backed her up on the amazing book to film adaption, the incredible casting choice and the artistic realization and pretty soon Sharon had found she was enjoying herself a great deal better than she had anticipated that morning. 

Since Jack had dropped out of the soccer team at the beginning of the year (he wanted to focus on real sports, he had said to an eye roll from his then girlfriend and best friend), Sharon and Andrea kept up their tradition of meeting up with Andy after his soccer training session was over. That close to a game, the training was held in private, but sometimes, when film club fell flat, the girls had spend their Tuesday afternoon doing their homework in the bleachers while cheering on the boys. For the last three years they had even participated in the first training of the season, since this included trial sessions for new team members and wasn't as challenging and serious as the rest of them. Girls, of course, weren't allowed to play on the team, but Jack had been a favorite with the coach.   
This time, however, they'd waited patiently for the boys to finish showering and changing and finally leave the locker rooms. Andy had appeared last, his arm slung around Julio's shoulder, heads bent together, laughing. Upon seeing them, he had bid him goodbye, though and made his way straight over. They'd heard Julio, in good humor, call him whipped across the field.   
They had parted again in the parking lot. 

Back home, Sharon and Andrea surprised the blonde's parents with dinner. Sharon had wanted to do something for them as a thank you, and even though Andrea told her it wasn't necessary, she'd agreed to prepare and have dinner ready when her parents get home. It's not like she had all that big of a role in preparations anyway, since Andrea can't cook if her life depended on it. So her tasks had been limited to cutting vegetables and looking after the pots with not-yet boiling water. In the end, dinner had been an incredible success... or failure, depending on who you ask, since the girls had been put to the task of preparing dinner every Tuesday in the foreseeable future. 

“I know, this is a lot to ask, but would you maybe come with me tomorrow?” Sharon tangles and untangles her fingers in her lap, eyes fixed intently on them. She and Andrea were about to head to bed, when the thought crossed her mind – she doesn't want to be alone at the doctor's tomorrow; she's still too scared of what this all means and how this will all change her life. She can't ask Andrea or even Andy to accompany her, they would both be busy with sports and debating. But she can't ask her parents either. She hasn't spoken to either of them since Saturday and until they came to terms with their daughter's new reality (or said daughter finally decided on the abortion she doesn't want to have) Sharon's pretty sure she won't be talking to them anytime soon, either. So, she thinks, Andrea's mother is the next best thing to a parental figure she has right now. Growing up, she's been spending almost as much time here than she had at home, has been treated like a daughter ever since she can remember (in every aspect, be it praise or a good talking to). She doesn't think she's crossing a line here, asking, but she's nervous anyway. 

“I was just waiting for you to ask, honey” Sharon is, for all intents and purposes, an adult with her eighteen years. There is no way Andrea's mother would impose on the girl if she chose to do this by herself. Andrea's parents had worked only half a day on Wednesdays for years now and so there's no problem in spontaneous plans in the afternoon. “I'll pick you up at three. We can get something to eat, or just sit around and talk or think- so you can prepare yourself” The fact that she's scared and has no idea what's to come is clearly written all over her face. 

“Thank you” A relived sight escapes Sharon's lips as she leans over and hugs the woman. With a kiss on the cheek she bids the adults good-bye and makes her way up the stairs after her best friend. 

The girls don't care that they don't have a room to themselves, they've been sharing room and bed at sleepovers for years. When Sharon enters the bedroom, Andrea just finished changing, giving her friend a small smile while she takes her sleep clothes from the closet and casually turning down the bed. Sharon would take her pajamas into the bathroom to change, like every night, where she's brushing her teeth and wiping off her make-up anyway. When Andrea doesn't hear the door open and close, her head whips up, concern written all over her face – and what she sees has her blush and close her eyes immediately.   
Her friend had already changed into her pj shorts and is standing topless in front of the full length mirror. She's examining her still flat stomach. She knows it's going to be a while yet until she can actually see anything, but tries to imagine what it would look like, what she would look like. She can't picture it, and with a sigh she pulls the fabric of her top over her head. When she looks up, she finds Andrea's face in the mirror over her shoulder. 

She lets out a laugh. “Come on, you have seen much more than that already” Turning around, she gets into bed. “You can look now, by the way” She laughs again, when Andrea blushes even further. Sharon grabs her hand and pulls her down to lie next to her, cuddling her friend's embarrassed face into her shoulder. 

“Yea” Andrea finally speaks, her voice muffled by Sharon's shoulder. “But that was before either of us was aware of the fact that I like what I could see” Sharon's pretty sure her continued laughing doesn't make this less embarrassing, but she can't help it. 

Andrea had been pretty sure she was interested in girls since she had been fourteen and she knew she was, about a year later, when she had been practicing for her lead in the school musical (her first and last). Her co-star had been absent that day and so some random girl Andrea never noticed before offered to read the lines with her. The girl had been able to recite half of the text without consulting the sheet in front of her, so she actually had been included in the production. They had been going over scene after scene, since there where barely any Andrea didn't have down to a T. When they had reached the romantic ending, where she was supposed to kiss her co-star, some immature boys dared them to pull through the whole scene. They did - because really, what the hell was there to it? - and in the end the blonde was disappointed that kissing her actual co-star didn't feel as intoxicating. Andrea had later found out that the girl had designed most of the costumes and had absolutely zero interest in Andrea – friendly or otherwise. 

“That's not true” Sharon is finally able to say between laughter. Her hand is stroking her friend's blonde hair in a soothing manner, hoping her unease will fade soon. “And either way, you know I don't care”   
Since that day two years ago, there had been plenty of conversations and reassurances. And more than enough situations in which Sharon could have felt uncomfortable – but she didn't. She didn't care which gender Andrea preferred to date – she wouldn't care if it was both, either – and what does it matter if a girl was appreciating her in her underwear or a bathing suit every now and then, when she doesn't mind a boy doing it, too? “Where is this coming from all of a sudden?” 

“I don't know” she shrugs. She hasn't been embarrassed about being gay since her family told her there was nothing to be embarrassed about. It takes a good amount of gentle prodding and knowing looks, before Andrea finally relents. It's not like she was going to keep this from her best friend forever, anyway. “I may or may not have almost kissed Emma earlier” It's nothing more than a mumble, barely able to make out, but of course Sharon hears her. 

She pushes the blushing girl slightly away from her comfortable position and turns onto her side with a flourish. An excited smile lights her eyes when she demands “Tell me everything” 

And so she does. It takes her friend's mind off of the things going on in her own life right now and after the incident with Sharon's parents, Andrea is glad for every distraction and opportunity to see her best friend smile. “We were in the lab, looking at our project and she looked so cute when she smiled at me, that I felt myself leaning towards her without even thinking” Her voice had taken on a different tone when recounting the events. There was none of the earlier reluctance and there's a tiny smile blooming at the corners of her mouth. Something tells Sharon, that this encounter didn't end as bad as Andrea had tried to make it out to be in the beginning. A gentle poke in the ribs has the blonde letting out a short laugh, before she continues. “She turned her head, but definitively didn't flinch when my lips collided with her cheek” Another brief pause, and this time there's no mistaking the fact that it's only purpose is to squash the ever blossoming smile on her face. “She knows I like her, but she's straight. Doesn't mean she doesn't want to be my friend”

Sharon resists the urge to tell her I told you so. A few weeks ago, they had a lengthy conversation about her crush and the fact, that Andrea would never know if she doesn't talk to the girl. And if ( when, Andrea insisted) Emma doesn't feel the same way, they would always still be friends. Andrea hadn't bought it, too sure she would be humiliated beyond life and Emma would never,ever, want to talk to her again. 

“You know, I won't mind if she wants to join us for lunch or at the cafe after school” She likes Emma, and when she's a friend of her best girlfriend, then there's always room for her to join them if she wants to. 

“You just want me to have something to do when you are busy with your boyfriend” It's a tease, nothing more, one Andrea had taken up again when Sharon and Jack were through but it seemed that the subtle flirting between her and Andy wouldn't end. 

“Andy's not my boyfriend” It's the words Andrea had anticipated, but the way Sharon says it, almost defensively, with maybe just that hint of sadness, that's what's new. She has never heard her friend deny it. She's said those exact words enough in the last weeks, that Andrea had known they were coming – but up until this moment, they were always spoken with a lighthearted tone, a joke and a jab following, ending in a kiss on Andy's cheek, should he be around during the conversation. Everyone knows that there is nothing going on between them romantically, and so this had always been a game, an inside joke, that nobody ever took really seriously. 

It's the flat out denial that has Andrea asking “Yeah, remind me again, why that is?” 

A glare is all she gets for an answer at first. Then a sigh. Then “I used to go out with his former best friend and I'm pregnant” Matter of fact, like it will explain everything. Of course, Andrea had caught on to what Sharon hadn't said. 

“But you do like him” It was supposed to be a question, but the moment Andrea opened her mouth, she realized that there was no need for it to be. It was plainly obvious for everyone willing to actually look. Judging by the slight widening of her eyes (which she conceals rather quickly again) Andrea thinks that maybe Sharon hadn't known she does before that. 

Sharon doesn't say anything to that. Of course she doesn't like Andy like that, that was just ridiculous. They've been friends for such a long time and that's all they were ever going to be. They might have shared the occasional overly - flirtatious conversation over the last few weeks but then again, they had traded innuendo filled remarks when Sharon had been happy with Jack. This clearly doesn't mean anything. And even if it did, why would Andy want a knocked-up hand-down from the boy he used to call his best friend not so long ago?   
And though that being her last thought before falling asleep, she finds herself dreaming about some distant reality where Andy might actually want her – pregnancy and poor life choices included – which has her incredibly confused by morning. 

She wakes Wednesday morning with a blonde head nestled in the crook of her neck, an arm slung protectively around her waist. She smiles when Andrea lets out a soft snore and tightens her hold just a little bit. The bedside clock shows her it's about five more minutes before the alarm is supposed to ring and she decides to relish in that moment. It's not the first time she wakes up like this and she loves her best friend any other day, but today she can't help but feel it ten-fold. She needs this easy, loving sweetness Andrea is able to provide with just her presence next to her. It helps ease the nerves that rake up when she thinks about what this day is going to bring for her. 

When the alarm finally goes off, she eases herself out off her friend's embrace, let's her sleep for a few more minutes while she makes her way into the bathroom. When she undresses for her shower she can't help but look at her stomach again, where, of course, nothing is showing yet. Once more, she tries to envision herself a few months from now, and though she still can't see it, it scares her nonetheless. When she's satisfied with her examination she steps under the hot spray and tries to relief the tension in her body. And when she steps out of the shower, the tension is still there and Andrea is leaning against the wall opposite the bathroom, waiting for her own shower. 

An hour later they arrive at Sharon's locker, hand in hand, where Andy is already waiting. And even though her dream still confuses her, the smile that splits her face when she spots him is genuine. He greets them in their usual manner, and it's enough for Sharon to even forget that she is nervous. The day passes way too quickly for Sharon's liking, still, and with a half-lie for Andy's benefit, she bids her two friends and Emma good-bye at just shy of three o'clock. 

Then, she spends an hour nibbling on a salad, pushing it around her plate more than anything. Andrea's mother is patiently sitting in the booth opposite her, eating her own lunch, waiting for Sharon to find the words to what she wants to say. Or not – it doesn't matter. If the girl doesn't want to talk, then she would get all the silent support she could give, all the same. The hour after that is spent on a bench in the local park just across the street from her doctor's office. She's shared her fears and doubts, accepting the gentle reassurances that are offered – and then she's fallen silent again. When five o'clock draws nearer, she's tenderly pulled off the seat and ushered into the building. 

She's terrified enough, that Andrea's mother fills out the initial form for her and when her name is finally called, the woman has to prod her into moving with a protective hand around her shoulders. 

The room she's led to is white and sterile and smells of nothing and everything at the same time, and Sharon clings to the presence of soft fingers interlaced with hers. When, fifteen minutes later, the doctor confirms what she already knew to be true, she breaks down for the first time since talking to her parents. She feels paralyzed as she weeps into her friend's mother's shoulder and the two adults let her have that moment. They can't even imagine what that situation must feel like for her. 

And then, when she finally does not have any more tears to cry, and all of her questions have been answered by her very compassionate doctor, she doesn't feel numb anymore. She's still afraid, this probably won't fade for a good long time yet, but there's a wee smile on her lips and a delightful gleam in her eyes. Now she has to tell Jack, because no matter what he decides to do or say about it, she can't raise a child with the knowledge that their father doesn't even know about their existence.


	4. chapter IV

Chapter IV

It's the nausea that wakes her the next morning and she curses under her breath as she makes her way across the hall and into the bathroom. She doesn't bother locking the door, or even seeing of it is closed properly, before she empties the contents of her stomach into the toilet bowl. Though she had been feeling unwell for a while now, today is the first time that she's been actually sick. She wants to cry, but she's too spend from yesterday's crying and her current situation that she can't bring a single tear to leave her eyes right this moment.   
Sharon remembers the last time she had felt the urge to throw up, and she's confident she hadn't felt that crappy the last time around. She had been getting drunk at a party, with encouragement from Jack, Andy and Andrea, has no idea how she'd gotten home, recalls quite vividly the hours she had spent locked in the bathroom and had fallen asleep against the cold tiles of the bathtub. Sure, the headache and the spinning of the room every time she so much as moved her eyes had been horrible, but now, without those, her sole focus lies on her sore throat and the way her stomach contracts uncomfortably with every heave. Then, she had had her boyfriend and her parents to get her through the monstrous and unpleasant hangover that followed.   
She doesn't have any of this now. 

She finally does start crying, when her hair is lifted from her shoulders, clumsily tied into a loose braid, and a soft kiss is pressed into her hair. She can hear voices behind her, whispering about breakfast (which turns her stomach just thinking about) and excusing the both of them from school if necessary (which sounds rather incredible right about now). She lets the tears fall freely down her cheeks, doesn't care whether or not anybody hears her sobbing and blocks out the conversation she can still hear going on behind her. The next thing she consciously registers is footsteps leading down the hall and then the voices recede, and a wet cloths and a glass of water appear in front of her face and a calming, soothing presence drops down next to her on the floor.  
No, she may not have her parents or Jack to help her through this, but what she has is so much better. 

Yesterday, on their way back home, Andrea's mother had stopped at the girls' favorite Chinese restaurant, ordered a serving of their favorite food and then some more to have a decent selection for dinner. It will probably serve for a dinner of left-overs on Thursday, too. And then they had made a quick stop just around the corner from their house for Sharon to collect her thoughts and her courage to face the rest of the family. They had talked for a few minutes, in which Sharon had finally realized that now, when she has definite confirmation about her pregnancy, she has to at least talk to her parents to tell them that if nothing else will come from that conversation. The promise that she won't have to do it alone if she doesn't want to, helped her through that realization and she had once again been glad for the comfort she's getting from all around her. 

During dinner, Sharon hadn't talked much about what had happened that afternoon. Neither Andrea nor her father had pushed her for information, knowing that she would be providing them as soon as she felt comfortable enough to talk about it. It had taken her halfway through their meal and a few laughs at the stories Andrea had to tell about what she had missed in debating and the few minutes after, where the blonde had, as per usual, met up with Andy again, but then, Sharon had taken a big breath, let it out in a sight and started talking. She had confirmed the pregnancy and that had been it, though. There had been no telling how that news affected her and what she was going to do, now that she knew for sure. Again, nobody pressured her into saying more. They would all be there for her, as soon as she was ready. 

After dinner, Sharon had excused herself to the bathroom and went to change into more comfortable clothes. When she had stepped back into the living-room, Andrea's parents had retired into the study to give the teenagers some space and her friend had waited for her with tissues, a bunch of movies varying in genres, chocolate chip cookies and a tub of her favorite ice-cream. Andrea had wanted to be prepared for both the positive or the negative outcome of the doctor's appointment and, both the positive or negative reaction her friend might have to that. Sharon had looked rather happy when they entered the house and, as much as she hates to admit it, Andrea's first thought had been that the home test has shown a false positive. It's what she thought Sharon would have wanted, and it would make things a lot easier. After Sharon had admitted, that she was indeed pregnant, Andrea hadn't really know what to think anymore. She had learned pretty quickly though, that no matter what else should happen, her friend would not be abandoning the child. 

It's father would probably not want anything to do with it, or her for that matter, but she hadn't cared (still doesn't), and Andrea had found that she was happy for her friend. It might not be what either of them had expected, but that didn't mean they couldn't make the best out of it.   
In the end, they had decided on a horror film (big surprise) and had eaten their way through the cookies and the ice-cream both. The tissues had come in handy later, when the realization of what this all means had finally sunken in completely. 

The girls had fallen asleep in each others arms like every night for the last week, after a thorough discussion about the fact, that Sharon will not have to do any of this alone and a good-natured threat should Andrea not be named god-mother.   
It had helped, for Sharon closed her eyes with a smile on her lips and no tears streaming down her face anymore. 

Still sitting on the floor in the bathroom, Sharon's grateful for her friend's help. Taking the washcloth, she wipes it over her face, relishing in the cool the damp fabric provides. Then she drains the water in a few large gulps and engulfs Andrea in a big hug. She's still crying.   
For the next five minutes the blonde comforts her friend with soothing words and gentle touches, until Sharon pulls back and wipes her face with the washcloth again. Then she puts a smile on her face, a genuine one, because she's not sad but just rather incredibly overwhelmed with the situation. 

They help each other up, laughing as Andrea stumbles over her own feet and almost ends up on the floor again and then Sharon's pushed in the general direction of the shower. “Are you up for school? My parents said it's okay to stay home if you wanted to” There is no question, that Andrea would stay home with her. 

“No, I'm alright now, I think” An appreciative smiled engulfs her lips briefly, before she remembers why she needs to go to school today. “Would you...?” 

“Of course” Andrea cuts her off with a nod of her head. 

When the door to the bathroom closes, Sharon turns on the hot water in the shower before stripping out of her clothes. Today she's not brave enough to look at herself in the mirror and so she steps under the hot spray and closes her eyes. As soon as the water starts to cascade down her body she instantly feels better, the tension leaving her shoulders and the sick feeling in her stomach vanishes. Not even the strong smell of her strawberry body wash and matching shampoo changes that – just minutes ago the mere thought of food made her queasy and she had been afraid, that the smell of it would have the same effect. Seems like she hasn't hit that stage in her pregnancy yet, at least. She hears the door open and lets out a quick thank you that she's sure hasn't been heard over the running shower, and when the door closes again she thinks she might have heard a faint laugh and a you're welcome. 

After her shower, Sharon dresses in the clothes Andrea had brought in for her earlier and when she drags the brush a last time through her hair, she feels like a human being again. She finishes her make-up in the bedroom, leaving the bathroom to her friend. She returns to the room just as the brunet is lacing up her black boots. 

“Are you sure you want to do that today?” It's early enough in the pregnancy that there's time to sit back and take a breath before confronting the cheating ex-boyfriend. 

Sharon stops with her second shoe half done and looks up at her friend. The look Andrea receives has her roll her eyes. “The longer I put this off, the more I lose my nerve and he needs to know.” She drops her gaze back to her boots, doing up the finishing touches. When she gets up from the bed and casually pulls down her skirt back to a respectable length, she hears Andrea scoff behind her back. 

The blonde's putting on the last touches to her make-up, watching her friend through the mirror searching for some thing or another between their joined schoolwork on the desk. “Does he really?” An eyebrow shoots up in question when Sharon whirls around on the spot and catches Andrea's eyes in the mirror. “It's not like he will want to be part of the baby's life” A non-committal shrug of her shoulders, and Andrea is back to applying her lip gloss.

“I'm guessing he can count” Sharon retorts sarcastically, and Andrea is sure she detects just that teeny bit of anger in her voice. She won't admit she probably knows what the problem is, she hasn't done anything wrong here. “He's probably telling whatever suits him best about me and our break-up, but the last thing I need is for him to think I'm a slut and going around telling people that” She stumbles over the word slut, spits out the last one as if she could choke on it if it doesn't leave her mouth fast enough, turns around and fetches her history assignment from the table behind her. 

Andrea ties her hair back, still observing the other girls' every move. She doesn't get it, and before she can think about it, her mouth opens and she hears herself speak before her mind had even reached the conscious decision to actually say anything. “Does it really matter?” And she knows it's the wrong thing to say as soon as it leaves her lips. It's too late to take it back now, and she sees her friend's face fall slightly. 

“I'm going down to have breakfast” She's not looking at Andrea at all as she grabs her bag from where she'd thrown it last night, stuffs her paper carelessly inside and heads for the door. 

“Sharon...” 

“You should hurry, we need to leave soon” And with that she lets the door fall shut behind her and heads down the stairs towards the kitchen. She knows Andrea didn't mean it, but it had still hurt. She's the good girl, always has been, of course it matters what other people think of her. Maybe not in every regard, but certainly when it comes to the status of her sexual partners and activities – especially when it is an outright lie. 

She encounters the other girl's parents in the kitchen, sipping their coffees and reading the newspaper. She's instantly bombarded with questions about her well-being and if she doesn't want to stay home and if she needs anything and the genuine concern cheers her up instantly. She feels petty enough to wait for an apology from her friend before she makes that fact known, though. For that comment, Sharon thinks she deserves it. 

Even though she doesn't feel like throwing up the non-existent contents of her stomach anymore, Sharon's not keen on a big breakfast and so she slumps down into her seat and debates not eating anything, when suddenly a cup of ginger tea and a slice of toast appears on the table in front of her. She's been told the tea's for the nausea, should she still feel it and the toast is probably all she can keep down at the moment. And once again, she's immensely grateful for the people around her. 

Some small talk and a couple bites of her toast later, two arms come around her shoulders from behind and she senses lips softly touching the back of her head. She smiles, hides it before Andrea can see she's forgiven until she utters her apology. The two adults across the table just look at them in amazement and confusion. There had obviously been something they didn't know happened, but by the looks of it, whatever it was has been resolved already. Like adults. 

“I'm sorry” the embrace tightens for a moment. “I didn't mean it like that” Another quick kiss to her hair “I love you” and Andrea is about to pull back, when Sharon's come up and hold the other girl in place for a moment longer. 

“I know” Then she turns her head and places a soft kiss on Andrea's cheek. “I love you, too. Now sit down and eat, we're going to be late” She laughs at her friend's pout. 

They have plenty of time before they have to leave for school, her upset stomach having woken Sharon a good hour before their alarm would haven gone off. Andrea ushers her parents out of the house after they'd finished eating. For once the teenagers would take care of the dishes and the kitchen before heading off, whereas there normally is no time for them to do more than gulp down a few sips of coffee or tea and maybe a bowl of cereal. Given recent changes in circumstances, Andrea suspects that her alarm will most likely be the thing that will wake them earlier than usual in the future. She likes her sleep, but she doesn't mind getting up earlier either, if it means being there for her friend. 

With everything cleaned up and put away in its proper place they still have at least thirty minutes before they have to leave the house; and that would still put them at school ten minutes earlier than they usually arrive. With a bored sigh, Sharon takes out her cell. 

“Is everything alright?” He picks up at the second ring and she has to smile at how adorably worried he sounds. She shakes her head, he's her best friend, and in no way adorable. “What happened?”

“Relax” She can't help the laugh that underlines her statement. She normally doesn't call him so early in the morning – at least not on a school day. “Nothing's happened, Andy” That's a lie, but she can't tell him that yet. Soon, maybe she'll even do it tomorrow, because she can't keep it to herself (and from him) any longer, but not yet. “Where are you?”

She can almost see him rolling his eyes at her question. “Well, since it's just past seven in the morning, believe it or not, I'm home” She knows it was a stupid question, but she likes hearing him all sarcastic. 

“Are you almost ready to leave?” She has no idea, why she just comes out with what she wants from him, but the longer she drags it out, the longer she gets to talk to him. Another stupid thing, since she'll see him in school soon enough, but she also really likes talking with him. 

“Wasn't planning to, but I could be” She hears him get up from where ever he has been sitting, presumably to finish getting dressed – or to get breakfast. She almost pleads it's the latter, because the last thing she needs right now is thinking about Andy, half naked, probably still in bed. The fact that he could be talking on the phone with her like that makes it even worse. “Why?” She hears him ask. He's curious but he seems to have calmed down from his earlier worried state. 

“We'll drive by the coffee shop by Andrea's house on our way, meet us at school in fifteen?” It's a question, he doesn't have to if he can't make it that early. But she's also pretty certain, that he will be there. In all the time they have been close she still has to see the day when Andy Flynn actually says no to anything Sharon suggests. She hangs up the phone with a smile, without waiting for his answer. 

Grabbing her jacket and her back from the living-room she meets Andrea by the front door. The blonde's ready to go, having hear her friend talking to Andy, and pockets her phone with a smile of her own before leaving the house. They talk about trivial things on their way to the coffee shop and Andrea doesn't say anything when they stand in line, but when Sharon orders their three usual beverages, the girl sheepishly adds a fourth one to the list. 

A raised eyebrow and a knowing smirk is all she receives, but she still feels the need to explain herself. “I might have asked Emma if she wants to join us. That's okay, isn't it?” she adds, even though it hadn't been the last few days. 

“I told you” Sharon starts while paying for their coffees “your girlfriend is always welcome” They move down the counter to wait for their purchases, Sharon with a teasing glint in her eyes. 

“I believe we had this discussion just a few days ago” Their first cup arrives and Sharon, realizing it's hers, removes the lid and dumps a shitload of sugar into it. Andrea scrunches up her nose. 

“Doesn't mean I don't like to tease you about it” The second one is presumably Emma's since Sharon never ordered one of them, yet, and Andrea pulls it towards her and takes a few packages of sugar and cream from the bowl next to her. She'd need one of them for herself and maybe Emma would, too. 

“You called your boyfriend first” Sharon slides Andrea's cup in front of her when it appears before her. 

“I believe we had this discussion just a few days ago” Andy's coffee gets the same treatment as Sharon's had earlier, except the girl empties two creams into the mix - effectively rendering everything Andrea could have said needless. Not even she knows how Andy drinks his coffee. 

When they leave the cafe Sharon is sufficiently distracted from what she's set out to do later that day. She doesn't want to confront Jack in school, but in all honesty, she has no intention of being alone with him anywhere ever again. The free period they are all assigned today so the members of the soccer team won't miss class while attending a last minute training session for the big game tomorrow seems like the best time to talk to him. Andy would be at practice, along with most of Jack's friends, so he won't question why she's not spending the hour with them. Andrea knows, and Emma doesn't know her good enough yet, to know that Sharon and Andrea spend every free period together – and if she did, Andrea was sure to distract her from the fact easily.   
Since Sharon had ceased to spend time in places they had used to hang out together, Jack hadn't felt the need to do the same. That makes it pretty easy for Sharon to find him and if she's correct in her assumption they will be completely alone for the conversation she doesn't want to have. 

But she has to do it today, if only for the fact, that she wants (needs) to tell Andy and she's still set on telling nobody else until the father has heard about it and from her, not from rumors and talk. He might have been an ass and let her walk in on a scene she rather not have seen, but as much as she may hate him for that, she will not stoop down to his level of immaturity. 

She parks the car near the entrance since they are early enough to have the choice of almost all parking spaces the school has to offer. They spot Andy and Emma just a few meters away, already waiting. When the girls arrive Emma gets up from the top step she has been sitting on, hugs them both briefly and gladly accepts the hot cup Andrea passes her way. She is about to ask what she owes Sharon, remembers that she has learned that there is only one of them paying for all beverages when they are out – no exceptions; her turn will come soon - and thanks her instead. Andy kisses both girls on the cheek, takes a sip from the coffee Sharon hands him and with a smile slides down the wall to reclaim his seat besides where Emma is now standing in conversation with Andrea. 

“So what's this all about?” He takes Sharon's hand in his, laces their fingers together and tucks her down to sit before him. She makes herself comfortable between his legs and leans back against his chest when his arms come around her waist. There is no way of convincing someone who won't know that they aren't a couple, that they really weren't. Especially with that smile adorning both their faces. But today, Andrea will let it slide, because she's sitting thigh to thigh with the girl she has a crush on, with said girl's head leaning on her shoulder while they are in conversation. 

“Nothing” Sharon answers him, playing with their tangled hands in her lap. “We were just up already and bored at home” She shrugs her shoulders nonchalantly and takes a sip of her coffee. 

“Yea, right” Emma speaks up from Andrea's shoulder. She can't stifle her yawn, she lives close enough to school that, on normal days, this would be the time her alarm goes off. “That's why we're having coffee on the front steps of our high school forty-five minutes before we're even supposed to be here” She doesn't mind being here, wouldn't be if she did, and her three companions know that. 

“Neither of you was forced to be here” Sharon pouts, so incredibly fake that she can't suppress the smile hiding underneath. She startles when she feels Andy move behind her as if to get up.

“Oh good” His arms leave her waist and instead wander to her shoulders to push her carefully off his chest. “I'll see you later then” When he shifts again behind her she puts the cup she's still holding next to his and grabs the hands on her shoulders into hers. Pulling them back around her body, she leans back into his body and slides down just enough so her head fits perfectly under his chin. 

“Jerk” she mutters just loud enough for Andrea and Emma to hear her, too and making them all laugh. Andy presses a kiss into her hair and hands her his half empty coffee while he takes a sip out of hers. At that, Emma's eyes land on Andrea and ask a silent question. They are not a couple? Andrea's answer is just as silent. No. At least not officially – or that they are aware of. 

This time, when they are required to enter the building for classes, they do it later than they normally would and part ways just inside the front door; all four of them making just a quick stop at their lockers, with plans to, as usual, meet back up for lunch. The first half of the day passes as uneventful as almost every day – and even though it's still incredibly childish, Sharon enjoys pissing off Jack a little bit more than any other day. She dreads the conversation with him nonetheless and almost prays lunch won't come. 

But it does – and much to her chagrin, passes way too quickly. She's completely not prepared at all when Andy suddenly leans over, places a kiss on her cheek and vanishes in the crowd that's heading towards the soccer field. Andrea squeezes her hand from across the table in encouragement. Their eyes meet briefly and they have a whole conversation without speaking a single word, but in the end Sharon sticks with her initial plan. She has to do this alone. So with a deep breath she tells the girls to have fun (but not too much) and leaves the cafeteria.

She finds him exactly where she expected him to be. Cocky as he is, he leans against the far wall of the school building, in the exact spot they used to sneak off to to make out, a cigarette hanging from his lips. She has no idea when he started smoking, but technically she doesn't care either. She's just glad he's here and, more importantly, alone. When she steps out into his field of vision he seems surprised for a moment, before he masks his emotions again. 

“I thought we weren't doing this anymore” He snarls around his cigarette, one eyebrow raised suggestively. 

“We're not” Her glare is almost deadly but he used to be with her almost every day for the last four years, he's not intimidated by it anymore. She opens her mouth to go on, but he stumps out his cigarette and, turning to face her fully, cuts off her words. 

“I won't mind though. At least I won't get slapped this time, it's not like I'd be cheating on somebody” His lips actually twists into a grin at that. She balls her hands into fists to prevent exactly this from happening. She's not the violent type, but she's hit him once and felt better after it, so whose to say it won't work a second time. 

“You're an ass” 

“I believe you already knew that” She sees him fiddling with the lighter in one hand and the pack of smokes in the other. He's frustrating enough that she has the fleeting thought of asking if she could have one. “So what do you want?” 

“I need to talk to you” Seriously? That's what she came up with? It's pretty obvious that she did not come here to make out, so what else was she here for than to talk? 

“So talk” He lights another cigarette and this time she almost asks. She doesn't smoke, never really thought about starting, but it would give her something to do other than entwining and releasing the fingers of her left and right hand over and over. She's heard it helps calm nerves, too. 

“I'm pregnant” She doesn't see the good in dragging it out any longer. She's here, he's here and that's what she came here for after all. Also, she wants to spend as little time with him as possible, so the faster she got to the point, the better. 

She watches his face for any sign of something but it doesn't change. 

“Congratulations” He's completely impassive. She knew he wouldn't care but she had hoped for a little more reaction than that. 

“That's all you have to say?” The freaking cigarette moves in between his lips as he takes a drag and holds in in his lungs while contemplating her. When she lets out his breath she is ready to punch him, or at least slap the burning stick out of his mouth. He takes another drag before finally answering her. 

“What am I supposed to say? My ex-girlfriend and my ex best friend having a baby together before they're even out of High School. I don't know how that concerns me” He leans more comfortably against the wall, the offending cigarette still hanging from his lips. He's doing that on purpose she realizes. 

“Andy's not...” She starts, trying to figure out if he really believes what he just said or if he's just shoving his inconvenient problem onto someone else. “This baby is yours” There's no easy way to do it. No matter what he believes – or doesn't – she won't leave here until he knows he's going to be a father. What he plans to do with that information, she frankly doesn't care, as long as she won't have to directly deal with him. 

“How am I supposed to know that that's true?” For a moment she stares at him, wide eyed, unbelieving. A moment later she realizes, that he, in fact, does know that it's true but as long as he denies it, it's his word against hers. And she has no doubt, that the moment he starts spreading those rumors, people would believe him; she and Andy have always been way too close for people not to. 

“Are you kidding me right now” She tries to stay as calm as she possibly can. When she looses her temper, he wins and though she's not entirely sure what they are competing over, she can't let him win. “I caught you, in this exact place, with your tongue down some other girl's throat and you accuse me of cheating? While I have been nothing but faithful to you?” This conversation is not at all going like she planned it would. She just hopes it doesn't last any longer. 

“Again, how do I know that that's true?” This time she is close enough to slap the still burning cigarette out of his fingers, her own just mere millimeters away from his cheek. It's not nearly what he deserves, but surely her hand will appreciate it a great deal better than another slap to his face. 

“You really are an ass” And with that, she turns around and leaves him standing there. She did what she came here to do. He's been told about the baby, told that it's his. He won't be blind-sighted when she'll ultimately start showing; when she can't hide it anymore. There was never anything else this conversation was supposed to establish. No friendship, no arrangement or agreement and quite certainly no rekindling of their relationship. 

She just needed him to know, and now that he did, she can go on with her life – completely without him.


	5. Chapter V

Chapter V

Last night, when she had made the decision to confront Jack like this, she had thought about the fact that the school grounds aren't really the best place to fall apart, but she didn't see any other way. So people will see her crying on the way to the restrooms; they will look at her funny, or with pity or with whatever else emotion they care to send her way; they will talk behind her back about the girl that's locked herself in a bathroom stall for the rest of the day; the teachers will reprimand her for skipping class. There's bound to be gossip anyway. So she had grit her teeth and gone off to find him, consequences be damned. 

And now that it's finally over, she feels nothing but relieved. There's no heavy need to cry, sob, scream or fall apart hidden underneath the smile she wears on her way back to the cafeteria. She has done her part, he doesn't want to have a part, and it doesn't sting, because she had expected as much. It's what she wanted after all.   
She would not deny him the chance to be a father to their (her) child, if he had been so inclined – no, that's childish and immature and just not her. She knows people who spend their time divided between parents who can't stand each other and that had never seemed to matter in the face of the child's well being. She could have dropped them off for weekends and could have brought herself to have a civil conversation regarding all things baby and parenthood, if she had to. She just doesn't necessarily want to. 

The smile grows larger when she realizes that she won't have to. She will not deceive her child, or anyone else for that matter, about who the real father is. As much as she loves Andy (purely platonically of course) she's not dragging him into that. At least not like this. If he wants to be there for her and for the baby, she'll gladly accept his help in any capacity he wants to give it. He could ask to be the only dad this child will ever have and she would give that to him in a heartbeat (wait, where had that come from?) but they will not play into Jack's lies just so he won't have to deal with the consequences of his own actions. Jack is that child's biological father, and she will never pretend otherwise, but as long as he doesn't want to acknowledge that, she won't have to deal with him. 

That thought has her practically bouncing on her feet when she enters the last place she has seen her best friend in, and plops back into the chair she had vacated thirty minutes earlier. She thought the conversation would take longer and so she had been sure the girls wouldn't see each other again before school is over. Apparently, Andrea had the same thought, for she's completely engrossed in conversation with Emma, heads bend together and is she blushing? They're speaking in hushed whispers, oblivious to the students and teachers around them, their hands inching closer to each other on the table by the second. She knows, Andy and her look the same to passing strangers, and she would probably kill Andrea if she attempted to do it, but Sharon thinks there are definitively two conversations she needs to have. Soon. 

Another minute later she feels she's been ignored enough. Clearing her throat rather unnecessarily loud, she laughs when two sets of eyes fix on her, looking like they've been caught doing something wrong. If they had been worried about something like that, Sharon thinks, maybe they should not have been obviously flirting in a room full of people. “I do not ever again want to see one look of doubt passing between the two of you to the state of Andy's and my relationship” If possible, they were blushing even harder. Seems like Emma might not have been as honest about her sexuality as she made out to be. 

“I didn't think you'd make it back here before next class” Obviously. And it's completely unnecessary to point out, but it fills the awkward silence Sharon's interruption had caused. The brunet decides to not comment, just looks between the two girls for a moment and then leans back into her seat and makes herself comfortable. They still have another ten minutes before they have to attend their next classes and Sharon knows this will be filled with small talk. No matter the actual status of Andrea and Emma's relationship, Sharon likes the girl and will let her in on her situation soon, but not before she has spoken with Andy. Andrea is aware of that, so she doesn't ask, pretends like this is nothing but a normal Thursday. She'll get her answers tonight at home. She can wait that long. 

The two best friends are still thinking about a safe topic for discussion that will fit into the ten minute span they have left, when Emma speaks up. Sharon notices how her fingers had slipped into Andrea's without either of them realizing. “I'm guessing you're going to cheer on your boyfriend tomorrow night” Seems like she's not embarrassed or intimidated by Sharon's comment anymore either. “You mind if we tag along?” 

Of course she doesn't, it's been tradition for years to cheer on the boys during their games. It's been another tradition for Sharon to slip down to the field and wish them both luck, and while Jack hadn't played soccer in months Sharon and Andy still sneak off to their usual spot to spend the last five minutes before a game talking. Andrea seems to have passed that information along. And now they're making fun of her. Well, two can play that game. 

“I don't know, I will probably be too busy recognizing you're there at all. He has an incredible tongue” And Sharon relishes in the sight of them choking on their own across the table from her. They look like at least ten emotions want to cross their face simultaneously, a thousand questions on their minds and still they can't bring forth one single word. “He uses it to tell the most beautiful of stories” Then she can't hold back the laugh anymore. They look so adorably uncomfortable that she doesn't know what else to do. She's most likely going to pay for that later, but it was worth it anyway. “You'll be at the cafe later?”

“Err.. Yes” Emma, who belatedly realized the questions was directed at her, replies. She opens her mouth to say something more, but Sharon is already on her way to her next class – and Andy.

“Did she just..?” Emma starts.

“Yea...” The bustle of movement around them breaks them out of their confusion and they too, head to the rest of their day's classes. 

History is boring, she already knows that, but today, Andy is late, like the rest of the soccer team. She spends the first ten minutes of class drawing random shapes into the margins of her binder until, finally, the door opens and the boys shuffle in, looking exhausted. Andy slumps down into his seat next to her, flashes her a smile and promptly flops his head onto his desk, feigning sleep. Amused, she shakes her head and then starts to poke him in the ribs with her pen. He bears it for a whole thirty seconds, before he grabs for her hand and closes his fingers around it. 

His thumb traces invisible shapes over the back of her hand when she leans closer to him and whispers “How was practice?” They're sitting far enough in the back that nobody cares, unless of course they were caught by their teacher. Today, that doesn't seem likely however, since he's far too invested in whatever it is he's teaching at the moment. A bomb dropping on him would probably not distract him. 

“Exhausting” Is the answer she gets and he adds a stifled yawn for good measure. 

“Are we going to win tomorrow?” She wriggles her hand out off his grasp and deposits the pen she's still been holding onto her desk. Then she reaches back over to lace their fingers properly. He seems more awake all of a sudden. 

“God, I hope so.” Andy groans, maybe a bit too loud, for the teacher sends a stern glance their way. He is immensely proud of himself when he sees Jack's head turning in their direction as well. “Last game was embarrassing enough” His head drops again and Sharon breaks her hold on his hand once again and instead lightly sifts her fingers through the hairs at the back of his head. It relaxes him and he looks like he could use it. “God, don't stop that” 

And so she doesn't. At least until the bell rings and they are dismissed from this particular class. They spend the rest of the day like this, him half-asleep hoping no teacher will notice, her massaging the back of his head and neck with one hand, taking notes with the other. They are talking in whispers about the upcoming game, the victory celebration afterwards and the weekend they had planned together. She's quick to, inconspicuously, divert the conversation away from the question of what she'd been up to during free period, because he knows she's spending all of those with Andrea and it would just make him suspicious if she told him she hadn't this time. It's not long until she tells him everything, but she wants to wait til after the game. She doesn't want to be the distraction that causes them to lose.   
And after they're finally released from school for today, she sends him home, because he's tired and exhausted and he needs to be his best tomorrow night and she will miss him terribly but she will survive one afternoon without him. 

She drops Andrea and Emma off at the cafe and drives Andy home and when he leans over to kiss her cheek before getting out of the car, she almost tells him right then. Instead, she kisses him back, shoos him out off the car to get some much needed rest and drives away to join the girls. 

Conversation seems forced the first few minutes after Sharon arrives. The two younger girls have been chatting away when she'd come in and when she'd sat down at their table they had, again, not realized she had joined them for a moment. And then when they finally did, Andrea didn't know how and what to talk about with Sharon of fear she would just blurt out the question she so desperately wants an answer to. Sharon's mind is preoccupied with when and how best to tell Andy her news, so she doesn't even notice at first. Only when Emma tries, for the third time, to steer the conversation in some direction that would get the talk flowing again, Sharon sends a glare in Andrea's direction. It clearly said Relax and don't do that. 

It's Emma, getting up from the table that breaks the other girls' eye contact. “You clearly have something to talk about that I should not hear – no, it's okay, I get it” She adds when Andrea's mouth opens, intent on apologizing. “But this is ridiculous.” Both her hands brace themselves on the table and she sternly looks between the two of them. “I'm going to the bathroom, and then maybe I'm getting us all some muffins or cookies. And when I get back, you two will behave like the people I came to know” With that, she leaves, two stunned faces looking after her. 

“I really like her” is the first thing Sharon says when Emma is out of sight. Then they burst into laughter. For a moment they both think about letting the conversation rest until tonight when they are comfortably tucked into bed and not in danger of being overheard. But Emma's right, this is ridiculous. They can't even say hello to each other without Andrea wanting to just ask already. When she finally knows how the talk with Jack had gone, she's satisfied enough to let it rest for the time being. 

“He's accused me of cheating. Says the child's Andy's” Sharon answers Andrea's silent question with a shrug. She really doesn't care what Jack thinks, as long as he keeps it to himself. As long as he doesn't say anything, she at least won't be called names behind her back. Or to her face – High school can be a vicious place.

“What an ass” Taking a sip of her coffee Andrea stops the even less flattering ways to describe him from slipping out. The cup can't quite hide the smirk though. 

“That's what I called him. Twice” she adds, a smile of her own blossoming. This time Andrea laughs. It's a short, high-pitched noise that attracts more attention from fellow customers than she would have liked. 

“And you're okay with this?” Pulling herself together she cuddles back into the cushion of her seat. She spots Emma in her periphery standing at the counter, paying for three cherry-chocolate muffins. They don't have long, but by the smile still on her friend's lips she thinks they won't need long – she won't have to comfort a sudden and unexpected crying fit. 

“I never wanted him to be part of this baby's life. So as long as he doesn't go around and makes me appear to be a whore, I'm perfectly happy” She squeezes Andrea's hand across the table, conveying just how much she means what she just said and turns around to get her bag from the floor. Taking out her binder, she says “Maybe we should get started with these. I promised Andy I will drop the History work off later” 

“That's a great idea” Emma has reappeared at their table, balancing three plates in hand. She pushes one in front of Sharon and Andrea respectively before reclaiming her seat beside the blonde. “We should eat those first, though” No one objects to that. 

With Emma joining the group, Andrea doesn't have to do her math homework for herself anymore either and while she has never complained about doing it, today she's glad for it. Sharon and Andy's history assignment is rather boring and trivial and it gives her the opportunity to chance glances across the table to watch out for any signs of sudden mood changes. When she gets an eye roll and a small smile at the fifths time, Andrea decides that it won't come and reverts her attention completely back onto the task at hand – at least until she found Emma's profile more alluring. That earns her a swift but inconspicuous kick in the shins under the table; and that damned knowing wink again. She doesn't stop though. 

Hours later, after finished school work, pleasant conversation and maybe more coffee than strictly healthy, Sharon leaves the other two girls waiting in the car parked on the sidewalk to Andy's home and drops of the promised homework. They talk for a while in the open doorway – flirting really, when you ask Andrea and Emma who observe the interaction closely through the car windows – and he only closes the door behind him when they hear a shouts coming up the driveway about them hurrying ( You will see each other again tomorrow, has been said at least twice). He'd let her go with a kiss to the cheek and something else whispered into her ear which brought a smile and a blush to her face – and made the occupant of the car groan. 

Does it really matter that your last relationship ended only some weeks ago, when you've been practically dating someone else for a lot longer than that anyway? True, Sharon would never cheat on Jack and Andy would never betray his best friend, so the insinuation has never been spoken aloud while there still was a relationship to cheat on and, also true, they had never kissed or spoken about feelings that shouldn't be there, but the hugging, hand-holding, flirting and coffee sharing (Yes, they'd always done that, much to Jack's annoyance) were a dead give-away to said feelings. And just because they never labeled their relationship as dating (not back when they couldn't, nor now, when they definitively could) doesn't mean their behavior don't imply that they were – they just haven't realized that themselves yet. 

Andrea, on the one hand understands why her friend won't jump into another relationship right away (no matter how obvious it already is happening). How would it look when she suddenly showed up officially dating her ex-boyfriend's erstwhile best friend just weeks after the former even became that. What would people say and think? But on the other hand, Andrea's thoughts circled around this one question: Does it really matter? There were obvious feelings there and for a good while and when it makes both of them happier than they had been before, when they both had been loyal to Jack, then again, does it really matter what people think or say?

She tells Sharon as much when they get ready for bed later that night and while the brunette is still in denial about her feelings for Andy in the first place, it gives her something to think about nonetheless. 

Sleep comes not immediately, and when she does sleep, it's only short, uncomfortable naps in between thoughts. Andre's curled up on her side next to her, arm slung around her waist. She's mumbling some incoherent nonsense into Sharon's shoulder, making her smile. Andrea has always had a habit of talking in her sleep, making for some great and embarrassing stories to tell whoever's willing to listen. She makes a mental note to convey some of them to Emma. Her girlfriend is entitled to hear all of those humiliating tales. 

She sighs at that. Girlfriend. Andrea has the courage to pursue a girl that had made it very clear that she is nothing but straight (obviously a lie, Sharon thinks, though she's not sure if it had been a deliberate one or if Emma just hadn't considered that she was probably at least bisexual), and Sharon wasn't even brave enough to make a relationship with a guy that obviously felt the same way about her than she did him official. It doesn't matter, she concedes, after a rather short and pathetic discussion with herself, but that still doesn't mean she knows how to go about it. She, even if she were so inclined, could not just walk up to him and spill her feelings, spring fatherhood to a baby that's not even his on him and expect him to take her. This isn't a fairy tale.

Oh god, the baby. She hasn't even told him about that yet. There's no way she's initiating any kind of romantic relationship with him before he knew. And after, he wouldn't want her in that regard anymore anyway, so there's no use in stewing over that at all. She finally falls asleep in the early morning, and is promptly awoken three hours later by the unquenchable need to empty the contents of her stomach.

Andrea is there again, in a matter of moments, holding her hair back and whispering comforting words. She lets Andrea have the shower first this morning, falling face first into the soft pillows on their bed. The throwing up and the not sleeping last night have taken a toll on her and she's debating the pros and cons of just getting back to sleep, when Andrea comes back into the bedroom. With a groan Sharon pushes herself back onto her feet and stumbles into the bathroom. She doesn't even bother with clothes today; they're in a neat pile on the dresser where she'd put them last night (she plans to make this a habit since it seems she's going to be way too exhausted in the following mornings to bother with searching the dresser for what to wear) and where they would still be for her to dress in after her shower. 

She makes it through two cups of tea – ginger, since it seems to stifle the nausea – and half a slice of toast for breakfast, before she feels her stomach churn again. It settles rather quickly, fortunately, but it had been enough to make her lose her appetite. They leave the house almost an hour before they are required to, this time deliberately, to pick up Emma. It's been another tradition for the last three years, to sneak onto the bleachers and watch the boys at their very last practice before a big game, which is always held before school the day of said game. It's more to boost spirit and get last minute questions and ideas out in the open, than actual soccer, after all, the last thing they need is an injury just before the game, but the girls have enjoyed it anyway. It has always been Sharon and Andrea, sometimes joined by some girl currently dating one of Jack's friends or another boy from the soccer team. Emma has never been among them, but this time she didn't have a choice. Mainly because she hasn't been asked but told to be ready. 

Today, it's just the three of them but they don't mind. It's peaceful and quiet out here in the early morning, the only thing breaking the silence are the occasional motivational screams from down on the field. They are hiding in their usual spot, since practice is still closed to the public, but Andy sees them right away. He kicks the ball a little too hard and completely off target, sheepishly excuses himself and jogs over to retrieve it. 

“Didn't think you would make it today” he greets them all with a smile and a quick kiss to the cheek. He doesn't have much time, if he takes too long, the coach would get suspicious and see them. 

“You didn't really think we would miss this?!” The obviously fake expression of shock on Sharon's face has him laugh. 

He rolls the ball before him with a practiced flick of his foot. “I'll see you in class. And you at lunch” he adds with his trademark smile. Then he leans forward and kisses her softly, the motion so effortlessly like they'd done this a million times before already, that it takes all four of them a moment to process that this, in fact, did not happen regularly. He's turned around and halfway across the field before the situation had really sunk in. Sharon just stares after him, both her hands held up in a manner of stopping the two girl standing on either side of her to say something. She needs to process this for herself first. 

It's on their way from the soccer field to school when Andrea finally asks. Sharon has been quiet since Andy had kissed her, watching him practice some difficult passes with Julio, not really seeing anything at all, engulfed in her own thoughts. 

“When did that happen?”, she tries to hide the accusation in her voice, because she thought she would be the first to know when something would finally change between them. She's not sure if she succeeds, but it at least gets Sharon's attention so she doesn't care. 

“You were just there” She's still not a hundred percent immersed in the conversation, her mind still preoccupied with Andy and that kiss and the fact that she, just last night, came to the decision, that she would talk to him about them after he knows she's pregnant – if he'd still want her then. 

“That did not look like the first time he's kissed you good-bye” Emma, helpfully, throws in from her other side. And then she realizes, that that was probably why he'd done it. They had been behaving like a couple for the better part of – god, Sharon doesn't even want to admit how long – that it just felt natural to kiss his girlfriend good-bye. Except that she's not his girlfriend. But it seems like it doesn't matter if or how they label it, in the most basic description of the word, she guesses she is. Has been for a while. That's not to say they won't have to talk about this development. Especially after she drops her bombshell on him. 

She knows he will be there for her, won't abandon her just because she made one stupid mistake, but lending friendly support and committing to be a father are like day and night. She won't do this to him. If, and she's still convinced he wouldn't, he chose to have her still, be a father to the child that's not his, she'd be immensely happy. Last night, she had also finally admitted to herself that she might actually already be in love with her best friend and after he kissed her just now she thinks he might be on the same page. It would still be his decision. If he isn't ready to care for a child, she won't hold it against him, because she understands.

The school bell brings her back to the present and she realizes she's been spaced out for some time. Two concerned pairs of eyes resting on her intently. “I swear, I've never kissed him before” And they don't ask any more questions. “I'll see you later” Four arms embrace her at once. “And please...”

“We won't say a word” Andrea cuts her off. 

“For now” Emma is quick to add, because she might not have been included in their little group for that long, but she's learned pretty fast that she is allowed to say things like that now; is expected to meddle in the personal life of her three friends. Then they vanish into the crowd and Sharon turns in the opposite direction, simultaneously dreading the minutes she would have to endure class without Andy and the moment he would join class after showering. 

As it turns out, nothing changes in their class routine. He slumps into his seat, flashes her a smile, rummages in his bag for his binder and books and then he's babbling about the most trivial of things and the upcoming game, effectively distracting Sharon from actually learning anything. He never mentions kissing her, and she doesn't either. And right in this moment she's glad for it, since it gives her more time to sort out her own thoughts about the matter. 

Lunch turns into an impromptu pre-winning celebration, with half the school cheering on and the other half insisting it being bad luck. The boys from the soccer team don't seem to care whether it actually is or not, as long as they have an excuse to be the center of attention. Just before the bell announces the start of the second half of their day, a general invitation to the after game party is shouted through the cafeteria and then the noise abates as they all make their way to their respective classes. 

The younger girls meet up with Andy and Sharon on the front steps to school in the afternoon, where they chat for another five minutes before Andy takes his leave, refusing Sharon's offer of driving him, to get ready for tonight. 

“Will I see you before the game?” He gives Andrea and Emma a hug, but it's clear he's talking to Sharon. 

“Like always” she promises and returns his embrace. He doesn't kiss her this time. 

They drive by Emma's for her to pick up her things she's already put by the front door last night. They have some quick words with the girl's mother, promising not to get into too much trouble over the weekend and then they're on their way home.   
There's been no question of whether or not the three of them would get ready for the night together and Andrea's parents seem to have realized that, too. When they enter the house there are two large pizza's and three plates sitting on the kitchen counter with a note to have fun. The girls and Andy would be alone this weekend and they are welcome to use the master bedroom, too, since they won't fit four people's sleeping arrangements otherwise. With a mischievous smirk Andrea thanks her parents for this generosity; ever since they have been kids, an invitation into her parent's bedroom also included an invitation into her mother's closet – at least in their minds. 

The pizza eaten and the little housework that is to be done finished, Andrea drags both her friends up the stairs and they spend the next hour sifting through clothes that haven't been worn in ages. Sometimes the girls are sure the only reason they haven't ended up in the trash or at good-will yet is exactly this situation. 

Sharon drives them back to school another hour later, still too early for the actual game, but the parking lot and the bleachers are already packed. She accompanies the two younger girls to find suitable seats, preferably down close to the field (and Andy), or at least somewhere with a good view and where Andy would be able find them with his eyes easily. Then she's off to meet Andy. 

He's late and when he finally shows up he sweeps her up in a tight embrace and that's all the apology she needs. She never thought he wouldn't show. 

“Coach kept on talking, couldn't sneak away earlier. Sorry” he explains anyway after he's let go of her. 

“That's okay, I knew you'd come” she leans against the wall behind her, takes both his hands in hers and smiles up at him. “You wouldn't dare not to” Her eyelids flutter innocently. 

Andy looks at her affronted, raises their joined hands in between them as if to give his next sentence more meaning by flinging his hands through the air, squares his shoulders as if he was about to chew he out for something, takes a deep breath... and deflates. “Yea, that's true” A shrug of his shoulder and she's laughing at him. 

“I know you too well to know that that was all pretense there by the way” Of course he hasn't been about to shout at her, or was even hurt by what she'd said, but he can be pretty intimidating if he wants to. At least when you don't know he doesn't mean it. 

“Yea, that's probably true, too” He steps closer to her, lets their hands fall back to her sides. His eyes are fixed on her face, moving from her eyes, to the delicate curve of her cheek, to her mouth and back. He hears her breath hitch, but he doesn't want to just assume it's in anticipation to what he really wants to do right now. “Look Sharon, about earlier, I'm...”

She's leaned forward and kissed him. She doesn't want to hear he's sorry, because she's not. This is everything she, last night, told herself won't happen – at least not yet. All of this fades when she draws back, opens her eyes and sees the smile on his face. “Good luck”

And then she ducks under the arms that have come up to steady him against the wall on either side of her and, with a smile of her own, finds her seat to cheer on her boyfriend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay guys, that turned out completely different than I had in mind, but i'm still pleased with the outcome, since I actually think this is at lengths better than what I had originally planned. Unfortunately this also means you will have to wait another chapter for THE TALK but this has gotten so long already, that I decided to give it a new chapter of it's own.


	6. Chapter VI

Chapter VI

“What has you in such a good mood before we've even won?” 

They had found seats directly at the field, immediately behind their team bench, meaning Sharon had to make her way through a throng of already seated people. This in itself should be annoying enough, but the fact that those people happened to be uninterested first-years, only here because someone told them they had to show school spirit, only made it worse. They were occupying every available space from the seat right next to Emma to the center aisle, shoving each other and punching shoulders of everyone not quick enough to get out off the way. Emma and Andrea had already dodged several attempts at conversation and more than one invitation to join in on their celebration. They were way too loud, and annoying and obnoxious and completely not interested in rooting for their soccer team; only in their own party. 

The two younger girls watch as Sharon strips off her jacket, sleeve drenched in something sticky and foul smelling where one of them had spilled something on her, but not even that seems to erase the smile permanently edged on her face. And there's only one thing the both of them could think of that can do that. A knowing smirk passes between them, but Sharon has to be the one to say it this time. 

“My boyfriend” It's casual, thrown over her shoulder with a shrug while she makes herself comfortable next to Andrea. Her friends had given her the choice of all three seats when she showed up, but Andrea and Emma already looked so comfortable sitting next to each other, shoulders and knees touching, heads bend together for the occasional joke or laugh. So she finds herself unconsciously directly in the line of girlfriends of their players who aren't as interested in the actual game and more in their partners. It's not like Sharon herself had ever been that interested in soccer. She likes watching the occasional game and she likes to casually kick some ball in the park or backyard or the season's first training, but that had all always just been for fun. As soon as it comes to actual rules and regulations, she's more interested in watching Andy work the field and supporting him. 

Comfortable enough, she leans her head on Andrea's shoulder, just contend in remembering kissing Andy and listening to the soft murmur of the girls' conversation. Somehow, she should have known that was not what her friends had in mind though. 

“So it's official?” Emma leans around Andrea to get a better look at Sharon. She looks happy enough. 

“We haven't talked about anything yet” Here, she sends a meaningful glance at the blonde girl sitting directly beside her, fleeting enough that Emma doesn't notice. At least she hopes so, but then, Sharon has also came to realize, that Emma is curious, but not nosy. She won't pry, even if she had seen the look passing between her friends and, more importantly, she won't get mad for not being kept in the loop about something. She knows Sharon and Andrea go a long way back and when the time should come where they will share whatever they are hiding, Emma has no problem waiting til then. 

Andrea, of course, is aware that the anything Sharon is referring to is not the relationship part (it's pretty obvious that there would be one when the two finally realized their feelings) but rather the pregnancy part. So she doesn't ask the question that, under different circumstances, would occupy her mind right now. What the hell are you waiting for? just doesn't seem appropriate somehow. 

“But you will?” It's innocent enough that no one would notice that she's asking about more than the official status of their relationship. Leaning back into her seat, she props her legs against the railing in front of her and drapes an arm around both of her friend's shoulders. Two brunette heads land, with a sigh of contentment on her own shoulders. 

“Tonight” Sharon states confident. No matter what else happens today; they win or lose, Andy wants her or not; she is going to tell him today. “Maybe I will have another talk, too” Her eyes shift to Emma for a fraction of a second, and Andrea can't even see that with her head on the blonde's shoulder, but somehow Sharon thinks she understands. 

There's been a debate going on in her head for days now, about the best and right time to tell Andy her news. Originally, she had pushed the inevitable conversation back until she had official confirmation (not that she really needed it). After that she wanted Jack to know first, if for nothing else than for proprieties's sake. Then suddenly, there was no reason to delay it any longer and she started to imagine how to tell him, pushing the when farther back in her mind. It's not like she expects him to turn on his heels and abandon their friendship, but she's still scared he would judge her. He's never given her reason to fear that, but rationality kind of went out the window when she found out she was pregnant. 

And then came the moment she realized she was in love with Andy and all of a sudden she had to tell him. She didn't want to go on pretending like what they have is nothing more than a close friendship, when it is so obviously clear that it just isn't. But could she tell him about her feelings without him knowing about the baby? The answer, she decided, is no. He was to get the full picture before she so much as hinted at a romantic relationship. And then he could chose.   
With her kissing him fifteen minutes ago, that of course did not turn out at all like she had planned it would, but still, before anything else will be discussed, she'll tell him. 

What she hadn't planned on, however, was having that particular conversation tonight, at a party that would either celebrate their victory or heal bruised egos. They had the whole weekend together, she could have found a few minutes to sneak him away from Andrea and Emma, to talk. Hell, she was probably going to share his bed tonight anyway, where they would have been alone for hours, giving her enough time to spill her secret in the morning before they got up. 

But that – the morning – was the exact problem. 

She's been puking her guts out for the last two days, and that will definitely not stop over the weekend, just because she'll be in the company of people she hasn't been honest with yet. That's why she relents to telling Emma sooner than she had planned to, too. There's just no way of hiding it from them any longer. 

“You sure?” One of Andrea's hands is curling strands of Emma's dark hair around her fingers, smoothing it out again, softly tugging on the end, then curling it back in. One of Emma's is tracing patterns on Andrea's naked skin through a strategically placed hole in the fabric at her knee. Sharon just nods her head in answer, lacing her fingers through the ones laid out on her shoulder. Right in this moment, she feels happier than she can honestly say she's felt in a while. 

When the boys enter the field, there's a general uproar moving through the crowd. The girls abandon their comfortable position for the time being, leaning over the railing and cheering on their team, along with the rest of the school. Sharon catches Andy's eyes, he's been searching for her, and smiles. She mouths another good luck in his direction, stopping herself just short of adding I love you, because that wouldn't have been awkward and distracting at all. Then he winks at her, smiles at all three of them and moves over to find his place on the field. A moment later the girls are cuddled back together in their seats waiting for the whistle to commence the game. 

As it turns out, they are way better prepared for this game than they had been for the last, scoring two goals within the first twenty minutes. Andy had told them they had underestimated the rival team last time because they had always been a joke to play against. But apparently, they had upped their team, exchanging players and coach and worked their way up to a respectable squad. That's what had made the loss so incredibly humiliating for all of them. 

Learning form their mistake, they had decided to never take a win for granted anymore and to never belittle another team anymore, and it seems like this devise payed out. At least until the rival team found their footing and managed to take the lead by one goal just before half-time. That dampens the cheery mood all around significantly and Sharon's pretty sure she sees people leave to go home when the half-time sound finally rings. So much for believing in our team, she thinks, just before she sees Andy make his way over to them. 

He follows the four other boys headed for the bench and their positions and Sharon detangles her limbs from Andrea's to stand up. The girls next to her are already giddily waiting for a hug a and kiss from their respective boyfriends, leaning far enough over the rail to almost fall over. Sharon is nervous, because he hasn't done this before and since they haven't talked about either kiss yet, she hasn't been sure where exactly they stand right now. But Andy is confident when he steps up on the bench to be almost level with Sharon and pulls her into a tight embrace. When he pulls back, his lips graze her cheek softly and without thinking, she grabs onto the front of his tricot and kisses him properly. He smiles against her lips, capturing them again briefly as she tries to draw back. She can't tell what he's thinking, but she's about to say I love you again, biting her lips to keep the words from spilling out. She fears this will become a problem of she doesn't say it soon. 

“See you after the game?” He knows he will, but he needs to say something, anything, before he makes a fool out of himself in front of the whole school.

“I'll be there” Then he's kissing her again and is off to the locker rooms to join the rest of his team. 

With a dreamy look on her face she watches him fade into the leaving crowd and then finds her seat beside Andrea again. And when she turns to ask if any of them would like something to drink or to snack on, she can't hide the laughter spilling out. Two pairs of eyes focus on her, mouths hanging open in wonder. Seems like Sharon hasn't just surprised herself with her actions. 

Emma's mouth closes and opens multiple times, trying to find the words to form the question she wants to ask but nothing leaves her lips. There is no way, that kiss earlier this morning had been their first one ever. They are way too familiar with the act. 

“Three times” Sharon decides to take pity on the girl. She knows they don't believe her, but she doesn't mind, because at least she knows it's the truth. “And what you just witnessed is all we ever did” She adds, preempting Andrea's question as well. She's learned the hard way, that kissing somebody does not necessarily have to involve a lot of feelings (the only thing Jack had tried to achieve with the busty blonde had been to get her into bed and he hasn't seen her since). Still, she wants the first time she's really kissing Andy to be more special than a short exploration between two half's of a soccer match. She's distracted enough by the thought of remedying that tonight as well, that she misses the unbelieving looks shared between the other two. 

Believing or not, they let the subject drop, interested way more in letting Sharon and Andy talk all of these developments over and then sitting them down and teasing them officially. So they fall back into light conversation and banter, wherein Sharon decides to drop the fact that Emma and Andrea have been holding hands for the last thirty minutes, too. 

It's another agonizing forty five minutes that drag on forever, followed by five full minutes of overtime which has everyone out of their seats. Even the first-years next to them had found their interest in the ongoing game and are shouting encouragements across the field or emit groans of frustration when the ball don't hit the goal – or the wrong one. The audience from the rival school is already celebrating their victory loudly – and no wonder with only three minutes left on the regular clock – when Andy hits the goal to even the scores. It seems to be the wake-up call their school and the team needed, for there suddenly is a hopeful and joyful vibe in the crowd that hasn't been there for almost the complete second half of the game. And when the referee doesn't blow the final whistle to end the game in a hard-earned tie, Julio ceases the opportunity to score the winning goal just seconds before the time's up. 

The teams are ushered from the field and into the locker rooms after a thorough but brief victory celebration, all of them keeping in mind, that the real one is held in an hour at the Captain's house. The boys are joined on the field by the school's cheerleaders and the proud girlfriends. Sharon doesn't join and Andy catches her eyes, smiles, and nods his head in understanding. There's always next time. 

She's been thinking about it for a moment. It would have been the perfect opportunity for their first proper kiss, congratulating him on a well-deserved win, but before she makes out with him in front of the whole school, they need to have that talk first; about the baby and the relationship. 

Instead, she leaves the stands with Andrea and Emma (hand in hand; she definitely needs to have a talk there) and heads for her car. They aren't going to wait for Andy, since he is obligated to show up at their party with the rest of the team to participate in the winning 'ceremony'. The party location is open for guests to arrive since half an hour ago, even without the host present, but the three girls drive by Andrea's house first to change into something at the same time more party-ish and more comfortable. After all, they were still allowed to rummage through her mother's clothes. That takes just enough time to have them arrive minutes before the boys do.

The so called winning ceremony consists of the cheerleaders lining the walkway from the sidewalk to the doorway, reciting their school song and throwing golden confetti over the boys making their way inside. It's said to be school tradition for decades, no one knows who initially came up with it, but it stuck around – and it's admittedly fun to watch. It's also rumored that the golden color of the confetti was specifically chosen because it would match almost every clothing item one of the players' girls could wear. The matching part seems to be true enough she knows, since she has been covered in it more often than she's willing to admit after she's been celebrating with Jack and the others. She smiles, maybe she won't have to miss this one after all. 

Andy finds them a quarter of an hour later, comfortably tugged into a corner, chatting with some random girl he hasn't seen before. “Is it okay if I steal her for a moment?” She feels his body right behind her, an arm loosely draped around her waist. His lips land on her cheek before she can even turn her head to accept them with her own. 

“As if you have to ask” Emma gives him permission. Her head leaning on Andrea's shoulder she says a quick good-bye to the unknown girl who's obviously eager to escape the crowd. “Congratulations on the win” Then he's suddenly surrounded by the two girls, hugging him tight, squeezing Sharon in between them for a moment. 

When they pull back, Andrea makes a small gesture with her hands for them to leave. “Go ahead” she ads with a smile at Sharon. 

Andy doesn't move. He's dying for a moment alone with her, to be with her, to talk with her, to maybe kiss her, but he's not pushing her into something she doesn't want to do. If she wants to stay and not talk, then he won't make her. “We'll be back” he hears her say before she takes his hand and leads him into the crowd. 

“I sure hope so, you are driving” They are not sure who called that after them. 

“So where are we going?” Sharon stops in the hallway leading upstairs to the off-limits family rooms and a downstairs bathroom and guest bedroom. She hadn't thought about that when she led him away. That was his idea, so he probably had a destination in mind. 

“Nowhere really” He answers with a kind-of cryptic smile and pulls her into one of the two doors lining the corridor. She realized it's the bedroom when his hand finds the light switch and her eyes find the comfy bed. For a moment her gaze flickers from him to the bed and back, not sure what to say or think, holding her breath. “First of all” he starts “this is not what it looks like” She feels herself exhale and relaxes against the door at her back. She's not even sure she would have said no if this was what it looked like. That scares her just a little. “I just really wanted to kiss you, and I know we did that earlier in front of people but I didn't know...didn't want to assume...” 

She cuts off his rambling by pulling him forward and pressing her lips to his. It's cute that he doesn't want to just assume she wants him to kiss her again, in public or not, but how could he not know that right in this moment there's nothing she would want more? He smiles into the kiss, his hands coming up to frame her face; doesn't know what else to do with them, too afraid he'll push her too far. And then he doesn't think at all anymore, when she opens her lips under his and lets her tongue meet his for the first time. It's stupid, this is just a kiss, but she feels like she's died and been reborn again, floating and drowning at the same time and a thousand other emotions she can't put a name to. She feels his hands all over her body, too much and not enough and when she melts back into the door he follows. Hands on the soft skin under her shirt (her's are somewhere much the same on his body) he pushes her further back, steps between her thighs, one leg unconsciously pressing against her just right... and suddenly she's pushing him away with a force she has no idea she possess.

“Wait. Stop” she says unnecessary, skirting around him to get some space between them.

“I'm sorry. Sharon, I didn't mean to...” She sees his face fall and for a moment she thinks about stepping back into his arms and ignoring the pressing matter of their conversation. 

“No, don't” It's the wrong thing to say, so she hurries on before he b´can make up his mind and decides to leave. “I'm sorry Andy. This doesn't mean I don't want this.” It's the first time either of them said it out loud. But it seems to be what he needs to hear. She searches his eyes, holds them for a long moment, before she lets out a breath and continues. “Shit, this was not how I imagined this conversation would go, but we need to talk” The look he sends her clearly says you think so? Another breath and she phrases it differently “I need to tell you something and you have to promise me you won't judge. If you still want to be with me after, maybe we should have that conversation, too” She's still convinced that this conversation won't be happening. 

“You're scaring me” he says, walking over to the bed where she's found a seat during her talking, and taking her hand in his. He takes it as a good sign when she doesn't pull away. “What's going on?” 

“You know why I ended things with Jack. What made you finally ditch him?” They've never really stopped being friends, even in the days Andy was still hanging around Jack, but they had never really talked about that. Andy's told the basics of it, and that was good enough for Sharon. For some reason, now, she needs to know. 

“Because I didn't like the way he was treating you” It's simple and the truth but he can sense it's not what she wants to hear. 

“How long have you known?” Sharon throws in, interrupting whatever he was about to say, because she wants an answer to that and when she let's him go on talking right now, she might never get one. 

“Found out about a week before you did”

She wants to ask why he didn't say anything before, but it's not really her place. He was first and foremost his friend and he was under no obligation to tell her anything. He recognizes her attempt not to say it, appreciates it even, but he thinks he needs to tell her nevertheless. 

“Jack and I have been best friends since the day he started school here, there are just some things you can't toss away like that” He states, hopes she understands what he is saying. She does, encourages him with a nod of her head to go on “ I needed a while to wrap my head around what I knew and who was more important to me. My best friend, or his girlfriend, whom I have a stupid crush on” It's the first time he admitted it in so many words. “Then he came talking about that bitch that just dumped him – like you guys haven't been dating for four years, like I didn't know and liked you – and that she even had the nerve of accusing him of cheating. That's when I made my decision.” He drags a hand over his face and lets out a breath. “I mean, he didn't even admit it”

“But you knew the truth” she supplies. No question, just a fact. 

“Yea” he shakes his head yes. “I'm sorry you had to find out like this though” If he had only come to her sooner, she could have been spared at least some heartache. 

“This is not your fault Andy” She traces her thump over the back of his hand, still linked with her's. “He was the one cheating and you were just trying to be a good friend.”

“Still..” 

“No, I don't blame you for that” She squeezes his hand softly and leans over to kiss his lips briefly. She's not finished, but she needs the reassurance as much as he does. 

He's about to ask what all this is about, when she breaks the silence that had settled over them with the answer. “I'm pregnant” 

His head snaps upward, searching her eyes and he doesn't know what to say. Jack had bragged about finally getting her into bed, but to his knowledge this only happened once. That's no excuse, he knows, but still this seems like she's messing with him. He knows her though, she won't joke about things like that. He thinks she's way too catholic to be pregnant at eighteen, too, but then, she has been way too catholic to be sleeping with a guy she's not married to, also.

“Does he know?” She's immensely glad he doesn't patronize her or shower her with empty platitudes. She knows how fucked up this is, without people, like her parents, pointing it out. She's also glad he doesn't question the baby's parentage. Contrary to Jack, who doesn't believe it either but finds it easier to pretend she's been the one cheating, Andy seems to know she's not like that. 

“Told him yesterday” Their joined hands become suddenly way more interesting. “Accused me of cheating with you actually”

“What an ass” Then she actually laughs. 

“Why does everybody keep calling him that?” It's a rhetorical question. “I called him that more than once” 

“Because it's the truth” He joins in her laughter for a moment, then he scoots fully onto the bed, resting against the headboard. “Come here” He tugs their joined hands, and she gladly cuddles into his side. 

“I'm assuming Andrea knows?” It's not quite a question. He thinks he probably know when she found out, the weekend where they lied about what they did and her cryptic explanation all too clear in his mind. He hadn't blamed them then, but even if he had, that's all in the past now. He wouldn't have gone around telling those news to everyone either. 

“Her parents, too. I'm kinda living with them” They had told him that would be their new senior year tradition, Sharon picking up Andrea every morning, because come next school year Andrea would be alone. “My parents completely freaked out” 

He can see that, actually. He still asks, mainly just to get the conversation flowing. “What do you mean freaked out?” She doesn't have to tell him, he can picture their reactions in his mind's eye without difficulty. 

“Haven't spoken to them in a week” Her shoulders move up and down in a non-committal shrug. This is going better than she had anticipated. At least the baby talk – they haven't broached the relationship talk yet. She tenses up, he feels her body go stiff next to him and that's the moment he seems to realize that, too. 

He moves, pushes her just that much away from him so he can look into her eyes. When she evades his gaze, he lightly takes her chin in his hand and lifts it to his face. “You think I wouldn't want to be with you because of that?” 

“Well, yes” Nothing more than a whisper. She would have said nothing at all, only nodded in confirmation, but his hold on her prevents her from moving her head. 

“Why ever would you think such a thing?” He has no doubt she is serious, but he doesn't understand why. 

“Because I'm pregnant with Jack's baby and I plan on keeping it, on raising it myself. Even if you could overlook the fact whos child this is, it's still a big responsibility to care for a child, especially with us going of to college soon and you have your whole future planned out for yourself. It would be selfish of me to trap you in a relationship you didn't want, to spring a baby on you that's not even yours just because I love you” She doesn't realize what she just said, but he does. There's a smile growing on his face that irritates her enough to stop rambling. “What?” 

“I would care for you and a hundred children, regardless of who their father might be. I've been in love with you for longer than I should probably admit already, and if being with you comes with the responsibilities of fatherhood, then I will still be there for you. I will care for you and that baby, and I will love you both. Unconditionally” 

She doesn't say anything to that, doesn't know what to say, but she falls forward into his arms when he reaches up to brush the tears from her cheeks. Andy lets her cry into his shirt for what feels like hours, until he can feel her relax under his touch. Then she's suddenly in his face, her lips on his, pushing him onto his back, her hips holding him firmly in place under her and she's kissing him like she's been dreaming about; like she should have done months ago.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys,  
> This is something that has been on my mind for a long time and it wouldn't leave my brain until I wrote it down. It's going to be long, ten Chapters at least but probably a lot more, since my mind is coming up with more and more ideas.  
> However, I am pretty busy with work right now so I don't know when I have the time to write on this, but I promise I will do my best to not keep you waiting that long for updates.  
> I was going to wait posting Chapter one until I have written down at least four Chapters, but I couldn't wait to hear what you are thinking - if it's even worth continuing. So please leave me some thoughts and enjoy reading.


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